Checklist 56: Online Threats to Privacy

This week, we’re tackling threats to your online privacy as well as online threats to your physical privacy.

Popular Terminal App Patches Severe Bug That Leaked Tons of Data

For power users, nothing is quite as useful in the macOS ecosystem as the Terminal app. Whether you are working on a simple project or trying to create extensively customized functionality for your machine, it opens many doors for the savvy user. Those same users sometimes find the default Terminal app to be lacking, though, and thus alternatives, like the popular iTerm2 software, have sprung up over the years. With a recently issued security patch, however, the developer of iTerm2 acknowledged that the program had been leaking all kinds …

Elcomsoft Phone Breaker 8.0 with iOS 11 Support: What You Need to Know

Are you thinking about upgrading your iPhone this fall—either to the standard iPhone 8/8 Plus or the luxury model iPhone X? If so, you’re in luck: Elcomsoft has already updated its Phone Breaker software to support the new phones. Elcomsoft Phone Breaker 8.0 includes support for iOS 11 and will allow for backup data extraction from Apple’s iPhone 8 and iPhone X models.

Why Use Elcomsoft Phone Breaker?

Elcomsoft Phone Breaker has been a favorite tool among iOS users for a little while now. After all, the new incarnation …

iOS 11 Includes Patches for Several Vulnerabilities

September 19, 2017, marked the arrival of iOS 11, just in time for the release of the iPhone 8 and 8 Plus. The big annual update of Apple’s mobile operating system added a few new features into the mix for users, from a brand new Control Center to a keyboard made for one-handed texting.

However, amidst the new features, it turns out that iOS 11 is also an important security update. The updated operating system includes important patches for a variety of iOS vulnerabilities. Apple also patched bugs …

Collaborative Power: Security Teams Work Together to Destroy Botnet

Of all the major cyber security threats out there today, few are as frustrating and complicated to contend with as botnets. From the malware that spreads the infection from device to device, enslaving them to a remote command and control server, to the many malicious purposes hackers use them for, they’re a tough threat to combat. Recently, however, the security community got a firsthand look at the value of collaborating to take down threats to users. Six firms set aside the competitiveness of their industry to work together to …

Researchers Uncover Spambot With More Than 700 Million Emails

Does it seem like your spam folder fills up almost as soon as you empty it? That’s true for many of us, but where is all that spam coming from these days? The answer is that surprisingly few people are involved in the sending of most of the spam on the web. With anti-spam efforts growing stronger every year, new methods have risen to the forefront, and spam is deeply entangled with many of the other malicious efforts ongoing around the Web. Spambots — malware that gathers together data …

Checklist 55: Putting the “S” in HTTPS

The “S” in HTTPS stands for secure. But why? And how does it work? All you need to know about secure browsing.

What You Need to Know about Email Spam

If you feel like you’ve been getting more email spam than usual lately, you’re probably right. According to a recent report from Fortune, a sophisticated spambot called “Onliner” has figured out a way to bypass spam filters and has used that advantage to target some 711 million email addresses.

About the Onliner Spambot Attack

Onliner sends emails to users, disguised as stuff they would usually open—such as hotel reservation info, communications from the government, and more. Each email includes an attachment. If a user downloads the attachment, malware called Ursnif …

The Internet of Things: The Future of Tech or One Bridge Too Far?

For years, tech enthusiasts have been calling the Internet of Things “the future of technology.” But is it? On the one hand, there is some appeal to a world where everything is digitally connected. Being able to control your home’s lights, thermostat, irrigation system, security system, and a slew of other appliances and systems from your home is convenient and useful. Business enterprises can also use IoT solutions to collect data on everything from concrete strength to wastewater treatment.

Simply put, the Internet of Things is already making …

Apple Adds New Touch ID Option in iOS 11

Since the addition of the fingerprint reader to the iPhone, the convenience of Touch ID has been hard to deny. From unlocking our phones to instantly authorizing an in-app purchase, it’s a rapid and convenient way to authenticate yourself to your device. Now with iOS 11 just around the corner, Apple has been dropping many announcements about what will be a part of the new operating system. Meanwhile, developers have discussed what they’ve experienced in the beta builds. One of the most exciting recent developments is the news that …

Mac Gamers Beware: A Trojan Lurks Inside a New Cheat Program for CSGO

Cheating in online video games is nothing new — it’s been an almost permanent fixture of the scene for years. Despite consistent anti-cheat efforts, new hacks continue to crop up for popular games all the time. It’s an arms race, much in the same way security researchers and malware authors battle against each other on a regular basis. Dabbling in these hacks has always been risky business; after all, how can you trust the author to provide the cheat you want, without some nasty extras packaged inside?

The reality …

Checklist 51: Five of the Most Notable Data Breaches in History

Today, we are looking at five of the biggest data breaches and most notable hacks in history. Who got hit? What data was stolen? How did they happen?

Apple Removes VPNs from Chinese App Store

One of Apple’s most famous marketing campaigns revolved around the catchphrase “There’s an app for that”—to the point that Apple eventually had the slogan trademarked. However, for users living in China, that statement is no longer true. According to a recent report from CNBC, Apple has removed most of the VPN apps from its Chinese App Store.

The removals weren’t random: China made unauthorized connections—including those made possible by virtual private networks—illegal in January of this year. VPNs allow users to access restricted parts of the Internet and surf …

Securing Your Data with macOS and Keychain

Every time a new version of Apple’s operating system arrives, every tech-focused publication on the Internet does a deep dive on the new key features. Occasionally, though, cool bells and whistles go overlooked. Such is the case with the macOS Keychain Access application, which, in addition to storing passwords and account information, can also be used to store and secure sensitive data.

Keychain Access gives users the option to store what it calls “Secure Notes,” alongside passwords and other valuable data. Say you need to store something like a …

Major Flaw in IoT Devices Leaves Security Cameras and More Vulnerable to Hacks

Another glaring security problem with Internet of Things devices has come to light. The details highlight the reasons why IoT security should be a front-line concern — not an afterthought. With several major attacks this year powered by botnets built on the back of compromised IoT devices, manufacturers should be looking more closely at their code. However, this latest exploit lies several layers deep in device programming. Dubbed “Devil’s Ivy” by the researchers who uncovered it, it’s a flaw within open-source software used by many devices.

Researchers uncovered the …

Google Makes Changes to Prevent Future Docs Phishing Attacks

Earlier this year, Google users encountered a unique and particularly devious phishing attack. Phishers have used Google Docs in various capacities for several years, most frequently creating phony forms to try to collect sensitive user data. During this enormous wave of phishing attempts, though, users received an email from one of their contacts with an edit invitation to a Google Doc. If clicked, you would see a screen asking to allow an app called “Google Docs” to access your Google information, including your contacts.

In reality, this app was …

Security Researchers Develop New Exploits Based on Leaked NSA Tools

While the WannaCry ransomware wave was sweeping the globe, one of the first stories that emerged alongside it was about the exploit that allowed it to exist: EternalBlue. Exposed as an NSA-discovered vulnerability during leaks by the mysterious Shadow Brokers, it allows malware authors to attack vulnerable Windows machines through a basic protocol for sharing files. Though it turns out that most of the machines WannaCry infected were Windows 7 computers, EternalBlue is just one part of a larger family of exploits. All these were leaked earlier this year, …

The Age of iPhone Jailbreaking is Drawing to a Close

Remember jailbreaking? From the first iPhone, it has been an integral part of the community around the device and even something which has pushed its development forward. Initially, just a way to unlock the phone and release it from the “jail” of an exclusive carrier contract, jailbreaking quickly grew into more. Games made their first appearance on iOS via jailbreaking, and for several years the only way to install custom wallpapers or ringtones on an iPhone was with a jailbreak. Many of the early iterations of the phone were …

Remember MySpace? Your Old Account Could Be Vulnerable

Social media has come a long way from its early days, and with the domination of major players including Facebook and Twitter, many of the early pioneers have faded into relative obscurity. Friendster abandoned plain social networking in 2011 and finally shuttered its services in 2015. MySpace, once the fastest growing and largest social network, quickly lost ground to Facebook and eventually lost many of its users. 2016 brought the revelation that 360 million accounts had been compromised all the way back in 2008 and were now for sale …

iOS 11: What to Expect from the Next Major Version Change

Among a slew of other announcements at Apple’s WWDC in June this year was the news that iPhone and iPad users would finally see the release of iOS 11 later this year. After the recent release of iOS 10.3.3 to users and the release of the latest iOS 11 beta to developers, it seems like the upgrade is not too far from its official release, currently expected sometime in September. What does Apple have in store for users, and what kinds of security improvements might we be able to …