Security News
When changing your Apple ID password - and you are changing your Apple account security passcode regularly, right? - you should prepare for the process by remembering three things, otherwise you may be caught by surprise or, worse, unable to regain access to common functions such as messaging and iCloud data and services. On an iPhone or iPad that's logged in to your Apple account, select Settings, tap your name, choose Password & Security and tap Change Password.
DOUG. Passwords, botnets, and malware on the Mac. If I read correctly, Doug, the court order also allows, for this limited period, Google to almost unilaterally add new locations themselves to the blocklist.
To be fair to Apple, the company has introduced various tricks and techniques to make AirTags harder for stalkers and criminals to exploit, given how given how easily the devices can be hidden in luggage, stuffed into the upholstery of a car, or squeezed into the gap under a bicycle saddle. With lots of similar devices already on the market, and Google said to be working on a product of its own to take advantage of the zillions of Bluetooth-enabled phones that are out and about running Google Android.
Apple and Google have teamed up to work on a draft industry-wide specification that's designed to tackle safety risks and alert users when they are being tracked without their knowledge or permission using devices like AirTags. "The first-of-its-kind specification will allow Bluetooth location-tracking devices to be compatible with unauthorized tracking detection and alerts across Android and iOS platforms," the companies said in a joint statement.
Apple on Monday pushed to some iPhones and Macs its first-ever rapid security fix. This type of patch is supposed to be downloaded and applied automatically and seamlessly by the operating system to immediately protect devices from exploitation, thus avoiding the usual system update cycle that users may put off or miss and thus leave their stuff vulnerable to attack.
Apple and Google have come together to develop an industry specification to prevent "Unwanted tracking," otherwise known as stalking, via Bluetooth location tracking tags. Though Tile has been selling Bluetooth Low Energy wireless tracking tags for a decade, it wasn't until 2021, when Samsung introduced its Galaxy SmartTag and Apple introduced its AirTag, that reports of abuse of the devices became commonplace.
Apple and Google have joined forces to push for adopting new industry standards designed to stop stalking via Bluetooth-enabled location-tracking devices. "The first-of-its-kind specification will allow Bluetooth location-tracking devices to be compatible with unauthorized tracking detection and alerts across iOS and Android platforms," Apple and Google said in coordinated press releases published today.
The security updating of iPhones, iPads and Macs has entered a new stage: Apple has, for the first time, released a Rapid Security Response to owners of the devices running the latest versions of its operating systems. Announced nearly a year ago, the security-focused feature makes user devices automatically install security patches as they are made available.
We've written about the uncertainty of Apple's security update process many times before. Rapid Security Responses are a new type of software release for iPhone, iPad, and Mac.
Apple has launched the first Rapid Security Response patches for iOS 16.4.1 and macOS 13.3.1 devices, with some users having issues installing them on their iPhones. As the company describes in a recently published support document, RSR patches are small-sized updates that target the iPhone, iPad, and Mac platforms and patch security issues between major software updates.