Attack

Security experts have long suspected that iMessage is not as safe and impenetrable as Apple claims. But a group of researchers says it has proof that Apple can indeed eavesdrop on your iMessages — and the NSA can, too. The researchers, through a careful and thorough study of the iMessage protocol, conclude that Apple has the ability to intercept and decrypt iMessages. Even though the messages are encrypted end-to-end, Apple manages the keys needed to encrypt and exchange the messages, the researchers found. "Yes, there is end-to-end encryption as Apple claims, but the weakness is in the key infrastructure as it is controlled by Apple: They can change a key anytime they want, thus read the content of our iMessages," reads a blog post published on Thursday by Cyril Cattiaux, an iOS jailbreak hacker known as "pod2g," and "gg" (who doesn't want to reveal his full name), two security researchers who exclusively shared the post in advance with Mashable . UPDATE — Oct. 18, … [Read more...] about Experts: Yes, Apple and the NSA Can Read Your iMessages

YouTube's clone of TikTok, "YouTube Shorts," is rolling out to the US as we speak. The feature launched in India this September and was first spotted on US devices by XDA Developers. Just like TikTok, Shorts lets users make and share bite-sized, one-minute videos, and users can swipe between them on the mobile app. The YouTube Shorts section shows up on the mobile apps section of the YouTube home screen and for now has a "beta" label. It works exactly like TikTok, launching a full-screen vertical video interface, and users can swipe vertically between videos. As you'd expect, you can like, dislike, comment on, and share a short. You can also tap on a user name from the Shorts interface to see all the shorts from that user. The YouTube twist is that shorts are also regular YouTube videos and show up on traditional channel pages and in subscription feeds, where they are indistinguishable from normal videos. They have the normal YouTube interface instead of the swipey TikTok … [Read more...] about YouTube’s TikTok clone, “YouTube Shorts,” is live in the US

Communications Minister Paul Fletcher last week put forward Australia's new Online Safety Bill, which the government touted would further empower the eSafety Commissioner to request the removal of harmful material from websites and social media platforms, as well as introduce minimum standards for service providers to comply with. Free PDF Australia’s encryption laws: An insider’s guide Australia now has world-first encryption laws. This guide explains what the laws can do, what they cannot do, and how Australia ended up here. Read More The Online Safety Bill 2021 entered Parliament on Wednesday , eight business days after consultation on the draft legislation closed. Submissions made to the draft consultation are yet to be released, but Fletcher said it has received 370 submissions. The Bill is before the House of Representatives and was referred to the Senate Standing Committees on Environment and Communications last Thursday. Submissions to the … [Read more...] about Google joins call for clarification on much of Australia’s ‘rushed’ Online Safety Bill

Reports have been circulating that third-party USB-C docks have been bricking MacBooks. Accounts began appearing on Reddit a couple of months back, and while it seems that it's mostly Apple Silicon M1-powered MacBooks that are affected, some users claim that other models are also susceptible to bricking. The problem seems to happen when a USB-C dock is attached that is used to deliver power to the MacBook. Users connect the dock to the MacBook, and the MacBook suddenly becomes unresponsive and is bricked. Must read: I bought a 9,000,000mAh power bank from eBay, and I got what I deserved Bricked MacBooks cannot be resuscitated. Apple has released an update -- macOS 11.2.2 -- that addresses this issue. According to Apple, the update "prevents MacBook Pro (2019 or later) and MacBook Air (2020 or later) models from incurring damage when they are connected to certain third-party, non-compliant powered USB-C hubs and docks." It's highly recommended that you download and … [Read more...] about Your USB-C dock could brick your MacBook. Apple releases an update to prevent this

Augmented reality for the enterprise is still such a burgeoning technology that it's been impractical for many SMBs to create their own custom apps. Like the early days of web dev and mobile apps, the options have been hiring a specialist to go custom or using a white label. A company called ScopeAR, which we've been tracking, is among the first to offer web-based AR authorship that requires no coding -- though it's a safe bet the technology is about to proliferate as mixed reality gains broader enterprise adoption. Also: What is low-code and no-code? A guide to development platforms must read AR and VR mean business: Everything you need to know An executive guide to the technology and market drivers behind the hype in AR, VR, and MR. Read More "About a year and a half after the original Apple App store launched, developers finally learned how to leverage a touch screen to build engaging and useful user interfaces, and app development exploded," … [Read more...] about Create augmented reality apps (no coding required)