Apple puts privacy information screens in users’ line of sight
Apple has released the latest round of updates for its various products. They come with the usual security fixes, but also a new feature aimed at informing users about what information Apple-made apps collect about them and how that information is used. The security fixes Apple has plugged a bucketload of vulnerabilities in WebKit, the…
Apple Fixes Indian Character Crash Bug in iOS, macOS
Updates released by Apple on Monday for iOS, macOS, tvOS and watchOS patch a flaw that causes applications to crash when rendering specific strings of Indian characters. Someone noticed recently that displaying a string written in India’s Telugu language (జ్ఞా) caused many apps on iOS and macOS to crash. The list of impacted apps includes…
Big Apple Flaw Allows Root Access to Macs without Password
Mac users and administrators need to be on the lookout for compromised machines after a security researcher disclosed late yesterday a big flaw in Apple’s macOS High Sierra platform that allows for password-less logins to root accounts. Publicly disclosed by software engineer Lemi Orhan Ergin via Twitter, the flaw allows someone with physical access to…
macOS High Sierra Update Patches Keychain Access Flaw
An update released on Thursday by Apple for its macOS High Sierra operating system patches two vulnerabilities, including one that allows malicious applications to steal passwords from the Keychain. The Keychain flaw, tracked as CVE-2017-7150, was disclosed last week by Patrick Wardle, director of research at Synack. Apple has now addressed the issue with the release of High…
Is your Mac software secure but firmware vulnerable?
Mac users who have updated to the latest OS version or have downloaded and implemented the most recent security update may not be as secure as they originally thought, Duo Security researchers have found. That’s because many of them did not receive the newest firmware along with OS and software updates.
Week in review: macOS security, Segway vulns, and the SOC of the future
Here’s an overview of some of last week’s most interesting news and articles: The future of macOS security: Baked-in protection and third-party tools Anyone in the information security industry who’s interested in Mac security probably knows who Patrick Wardle is. Apart from being Chief Security Researcher at Synack, he’s also the creator of a number…
Fireball: Adware with potential nuclear consequences
Advertising can sometimes be annoying — and sometimes it can be malicious. Businesses that make their money selling advertisements sometimes go too far trying to make sure you see their ads. Recently researchers found that one such business — a big digital-marketing agency — went as far as installing adware on 250 million computers running…
Apple issues security updates for macOS, iDevices
It’s time to patch your Mac, iDevices and software again: Apple has released security updates for MacOS (all the way back to Yosemite), iOS, watchOS, tvOS, iTunes, iCloud for Windows, and Safari. The iTunes and iCloud for Windows updates fix one vulnerability in WebKit each. But both of these are critical, as they can be…
If you downloaded HandBrake for Mac, you could be infected with Proton RAT
A mirror download server of HandBrake, a popular open source video conversion app for Mac, has been compromised, and the legitimate app .dmg file switched with a Trojanized version containing the Proton RAT. Who got infected? “Anyone who has downloaded HandBrake on Mac between [02/May/2017 14:30 UTC] and [06/May/2017 11:00 UTC] needs to verify the…
Turla gets ready to target Mac users
The cyber espionage group deploying the Turla (aka Snake, Uroburos, or Agent.BTZ) malware framework is expected to be able to target Mac users soon. The APT group The group, which security researchers named after the tool, has been operating for years, and was first spotted targeting computers running the Windows, then later also Linux users….