| Cult of Mac

Stop using these stupid, stupid passwords immediately

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Stop using these stupid, stupid passwords immediately
"Another fool who used 'password.' Time to harvest some credit card numbers."
Photo: Nikita Belokhonov/Pexels

Some people simply can’t stop using stupid, weak passwords. An analysis of the phrases used to secure various accounts in 2022 finds that “password” was used 4.9 million times, making it the most popular. And the rest of the top 10 are all easily guessed, too.

Also, using “tinder” as your Tinder password isn’t nearly as clever as you think it is. Many thousands of other people had the same idea.

New York City built a $10 million iPhone-cracking lab

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GrayKey can bypass iPhone security
A passcode is the key to iPhone encryption. It keeps out criminals, and the police too.
Photo: Ed Hardy/Cult of Mac

New York City works every day on hacking into thousands of iPhones, Androids, iPads, etc. The district attorney of Manhattan believes these contain evidence of crimes, and spent $10 million on a lab to find ways around or through iPhone encryption.

Get back-to-school iPhone security (and free Beats headphones)

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If you're off to college, get ready to keep the contents of your iPhone safe.
If you're off to college, get ready to keep the contents of your iPhone safe.
Photo: prince lang/Flickr CC

This back-to-school iPhone security post is presented by Dashlane.

Headed off to college? Hopefully you’re well-outfitted with great hardware, cool accessories and all the productivity apps you can ignore while skipping class. But there’s more to worry about than pimping out your gear. Back-to-school prep also means beefing up iPhone security.

Apple claps back at Google’s claims of iPhone vulnerabilities

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security lock safe
Surprise, surprise, your iPhone isn’t as vulnerable to being hacked as Apple’s chief rival says it is.
Photo: Pexels

The accusations Google recently made about iOS security flaws were greatly overstated, deliberately “stoking fear” in iPhone users, according to Apple. The iPhone maker points out that the issues were much more narrow than its rival indicated, and were online for only a brief time.

Hacked iPhones star in Middle East cyberwar

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UAE iPhone hacks
The hack took advantage of a flaw in iMessage.
Photo: Ste Smith/Cult of Mac

Intelligence operatives from the United Arab Emirates used a powerful cyber weapon that allowed them to monitor the iPhones of hundreds of targets.

The iPhone spy tool, dubbed Karma, gave the UAE remote access to phone numbers, photos, emails and text messages in 2016 and 2017.

An iOS security update rendered it “far less effective,” according to U.S. intelligence contractors who worked with the UAE to breach the iPhones of diplomats, activists, and rival foreign leaders.

DNC urges Democrats to dump Android for iPhone

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GrayKey can bypass iPhone security
iPhone security impresses the new head of information security at the Democratic National Party.
Photo: Ed Hardy/Cult of Mac

The Democratic National Committee has a solution for improving its smartphone security: switch to iPhone. It suggests that Democratic organizations get rid of all their Android devices.

This is especially true if the phones are from ZTE, a company with ties to the Chinese government.

Trump carries an iPhone just for Twitter

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This is the Trump iPhone, but not Trump's iPhone.
The President doesn't actually use Caviar's commemorative Donald Trump iPhone 7.
Photo: Caviar

Possibly everyone on Earth knows that President Donald Trump uses Twitter, but you might not know that his many tweets are coming from an iPhone. The commander in chief actually has at least two: one that’s just for Twitter, and one or more others only for voice calls.

While Apple makes devices that are unusually hard to hack, there are questions about whether the president is hampering White House efforts to keep the Trump iPhone secure.

9 ways to strengthen your Apple products

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Step up your iPhone and Mac security with these tips.
Step up your iPhone and Mac security with these tips.
Photo: Free Photos/Pixabay CC

This post is brought to you by TheBestVPN.com.

Think you’ll never fall victim to a cybercrime? Think again.

Recent data shows individuals have a one in 10 chance of becoming a victim of cybercrime each year. In fact, people are 20 times more likely to experience fraud than robbery.

It’s time to start taking your data security seriously by ensuring your smartphone, computer and online accounts are safe from hackers. Luckily, Apple products are pretty secure on their own. However, it never hurts to add an extra layer of protection. Start with these nine ways to strengthen your Apple products.