Bluetooth security: Flaw could allow nearby attacker to grab your private data

A cryptographic bug in many Bluetooth firmware and operating system drivers could allow an attacker within about 30 meters to capture and decrypt data shared between Bluetooth-paired devices. The flaw was found by Lior Neumann and Eli Biham of the Israel Institute of Technology, and flagged today by Carnegie Mellon University CERT. The flaw, which Read more about Bluetooth security: Flaw could allow nearby attacker to grab your private data[…]

Every Android Device Since 2012 Impacted by RAMpage Vulnerability

Almost all Android devices released since 2012 are vulnerable to a new vulnerability named RAMpage, an international team of academics has revealed today. The vulnerability, tracked as CVE-2018-9442, is a variation of the Rowhammer attack. Rowhammer is a hardware bug in modern memory cards. A few years back researchers discovered that when someone would send Read more about Every Android Device Since 2012 Impacted by RAMpage Vulnerability[…]

IBM AI Project Debater scores 1 – 1 vs man in 2 debates

The AI, called Project Debater, appeared on stage in a packed conference room at IBM’s San Francisco office embodied in a 6ft tall black panel with a blue, animated “mouth”. It was a looming presence alongside the human debaters Noa Ovadia and Dan Zafrir, who stood behind a podium nearby. Although the machine stumbled at Read more about IBM AI Project Debater scores 1 – 1 vs man in 2 debates[…]

EFAIL: PGP and S/MIME (encrypted email) are no longer safe

EFAIL describes vulnerabilities in the end-to-end encryption technologies OpenPGP and S/MIME that leak the plaintext of encrypted emails. Email is a plaintext communication medium whose communication paths are partly protected by TLS (TLS). For people in hostile environments (journalists, political activists, whistleblowers, …) who depend on the confidentiality of digital communication, this may not be Read more about EFAIL: PGP and S/MIME (encrypted email) are no longer safe[…]

Google sued for ‘clandestine tracking’ of 4.4m UK iPhone users’ browsing data

Google is being sued in the high court for as much as £3.2bn for the alleged “clandestine tracking and collation” of personal information from 4.4 million iPhone users in the UK. The collective action is being led by former Which? director Richard Lloyd over claims Google bypassed the privacy settings of Apple’s Safari browser on Read more about Google sued for ‘clandestine tracking’ of 4.4m UK iPhone users’ browsing data[…]

Cops Around the Country Can Now Unlock iPhones, Records Show

Police forces and federal agencies around the country have bought relatively cheap tools to unlock up-to-date iPhones and bypass their encryption, according to a Motherboard investigation based on several caches of internal agency documents, online records, and conversations with law enforcement officials. Many of the documents were obtained by Motherboard using public records requests.   Read more about Cops Around the Country Can Now Unlock iPhones, Records Show[…]

NUC, NUC! Who’s there? Intel, warning you to kill a buggy keyboard app

Intel has made much of its NUC and Compute Stick mini-PCs as a way to place computers to out-of-the-way places like digital signage. Such locations aren’t the kind of spots where keyboards and pointing devices can be found, so Intel sweetened the deal by giving the world an Android and iOS app called the “Intel Read more about NUC, NUC! Who’s there? Intel, warning you to kill a buggy keyboard app[…]

AI predicts your lifespan using activity tracking apps

Researchers can estimate your expected lifespan based on physiological traits like your genes or your circulating blood factor, but that’s not very practical on a grand scale. There may be a shortcut, however: the devices you already have on your body. Russian scientists have crafted an AI-based algorithm that uses the activity tracking from smartphones Read more about AI predicts your lifespan using activity tracking apps[…]

Researchers develop device that can ‘hear’ your internal voice

Researchers have created a wearable device that can read people’s minds when they use an internal voice, allowing them to control devices and ask queries without speaking. The device, called AlterEgo, can transcribe words that wearers verbalise internally but do not say out loud, using electrodes attached to the skin. “Our idea was: could we Read more about Researchers develop device that can ‘hear’ your internal voice[…]

Yes, Cops Are Now Opening iPhones With Dead People’s Fingerprints

Separate sources close to local and federal police investigations in New York and Ohio, who asked to remain anonymous as they weren’t authorized to speak on record, said it was now relatively common for fingerprints of the deceased to be depressed on the scanner of Apple iPhones, devices which have been wrapped up in increasingly Read more about Yes, Cops Are Now Opening iPhones With Dead People’s Fingerprints[…]

IOS QR ‘bug’ isn’t a bug: trend in pointing out things working as intended as a security advisory continues

So: Oddly enough, if you make a QR code that tells you to go somewhere, the camera will take you to where the QR code tells you to go, even if you tell someone that the QR code goes someplace else. This trend of ‘reporting’ security problems that are not security problems at all is Read more about IOS QR ‘bug’ isn’t a bug: trend in pointing out things working as intended as a security advisory continues[…]

Siri Can Expose Your Hidden Notifications Even When Your Phone Is Locked

With iOS 11, Apple added a new setting that lets you choose whether you want previews of your notifications to appear on your lock screen. By default, iOS shows a preview of your notifications only when your phone is unlocked, via some form of authentication like Face ID. But Siri will read your notifications from Read more about Siri Can Expose Your Hidden Notifications Even When Your Phone Is Locked[…]

AI models leak secret data too easily

A paper released on arXiv last week by a team of researchers from the University of California, Berkeley, National University of Singapore, and Google Brain reveals just how vulnerable deep learning is to information leakage. The researchers labelled the problem “unintended memorization” and explained it happens if miscreants can access to the model’s code and Read more about AI models leak secret data too easily[…]

macOS may lose data on APFS-formatted disk images

This week we reported to Apple a serious flaw in macOS that can lead to data loss when using an APFS-formatted disk image. Until Apple issues a macOS update that resolves this problem, we’re dropping support for APFS-formatted disk images. Note: What I describe below applies to APFS sparse disk images only — ordinary APFS Read more about macOS may lose data on APFS-formatted disk images[…]

Fiat Chrysler Pushed A UConnect Update That Causes Constant Reboots With No Announced Fix

It appears that the over-the-air update to the UConnect system went out on Friday, and many, many owners have not had working center-stack systems since then. Many of these vehicles are nearly brand-new, which makes the issue even more maddening. […] The failure of the UConnect system isn’t just limited to not having a radio; Read more about Fiat Chrysler Pushed A UConnect Update That Causes Constant Reboots With No Announced Fix[…]

It’s 2018 and your Macs, iPhones can be pwned by playing evil music: lots of patches

Apple has released security patches for iOS and macOS that include, among other things, Meltdown and Spectre fixes. The new versions should be installed as soon as possible. […] Less-hyped, but still serious, are vulnerabilities in the macOS kernel that include an exploitable race condition (CVE-2018-4092), a validation issue (CVE-2018-4093), and memory initialization bug (CVE-2018-4090) Read more about It’s 2018 and your Macs, iPhones can be pwned by playing evil music: lots of patches[…]

Yes, your old iPhone is slowing down: iOS hits brakes on CPUs as batteries wear out

It turns out Apple’s mobile operating system includes a throttling mechanism for devices with weary batteries, designed to limit CPU utilization in order to prevent peak power demands that the battery is no longer capable of providing. In other words, the OS secretly stalls the CPU on older iPhones to stop them rapidly draining their Read more about Yes, your old iPhone is slowing down: iOS hits brakes on CPUs as batteries wear out[…]

“Suspicious” event routes traffic for big-name sites through Russia

According to a blog post published Wednesday by Internet monitoring service BGPMon, the hijack lasted a total of six minutes and affected 80 separate address blocks. It started at 4:43 UTC and continued for three minutes. A second hijacking occurred at 7:07 UTC and also lasted three minutes. Meanwhile, a second monitoring service, Qrator Labs, Read more about “Suspicious” event routes traffic for big-name sites through Russia[…]

Mailsploit: It’s 2017, and you can spoof the ‘from’ in email to fool filters

Penetration tester Sabri Haddouche has reintroduced the world to email source spoofing, bypassing spam filters and protections like Domain-based Message Authentication, Reporting and Conformance (DMARC), thereby posing a risk to anyone running a vulnerable and unpatched mail client.What he’s found is that more than 30 mail clients including Apple Mail, Thunderbird, various Windows clients, Yahoo! Read more about Mailsploit: It’s 2017, and you can spoof the ‘from’ in email to fool filters[…]

Samsung repurposes old phones – bitcoin miner, fishtank monitor, promises to open up

The phone-in-the-closet phenomenon has become a hidden store of e-waste; a two-year-old phone still has value and is still a powerful device. And so it’s great news that Samsung is starting a new “Upcycling” initiative that is designed to turn old smartphones and turn them into something brand new.Behold, for example, this bitcoin mining rig, Read more about Samsung repurposes old phones – bitcoin miner, fishtank monitor, promises to open up[…]

Warning: Microsoft is using Cortana to read your private Skype conversations

Cortana is a decent voice assistant. Hell, “she” is probably better than Apple’s woefully disappointing Siri, but that isn’t saying very much. Still, Microsoft’s assistant very much annoys me on Windows 10. I don’t necessarily want to use my desktop PC like my phone, and sometimes I feel like she is intruding on my computer. Read more about Warning: Microsoft is using Cortana to read your private Skype conversations[…]

Attention adults working in the real world: Do not upgrade to iOS 11 if you use Outlook, Exchange

Apple’s latest version of iOS, namely version 11, may struggle or flat-out fail to connect to Microsoft Office and Exchange mailboxes. That’s a rather annoying pain for anyone working in a typical Windows-based work environment. The Cupertino idiot-tax operation admitted this week that iOS 11 contains a bug that potentially leaves users locked out of Read more about Attention adults working in the real world: Do not upgrade to iOS 11 if you use Outlook, Exchange[…]

Hit App Sarahah Quietly Uploads Your Address Book

Sarahah, a new app that lets people sign up to receive anonymized, candid messages, has been surging in popularity; somewhere north of 18 million people are estimated to have downloaded it from Apple and Google’s online stores, making it the No. 3 most downloaded free software title for iPhones and iPads. Sarahah bills itself as Read more about Hit App Sarahah Quietly Uploads Your Address Book[…]

Web inventor Sir Tim and W3C decide to close up the web: world has 2 weeks to appeal

Traditionally, web technology has been open. HTML markup, CSS, and JavaScript code can be viewed (though not necessarily easily understood, thanks to minification), remixed, and reused. The web’s openness allowed it to flourish. But those selling costly content – software and media companies – prefer open wallets to anything goes. So they have employed copy Read more about Web inventor Sir Tim and W3C decide to close up the web: world has 2 weeks to appeal[…]