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The operating system does allow software, such as the NHS tracing app, to run in a special mode so that it can announce itself to nearby iPhones and iPads via Bluetooth, and listen out for copies of itself on other devices, even when in the background. It is literally impossible to broadcast the UUID needed for the app to work without the screen on and the app in the foreground.
Apple and Google will ban location-tracking by apps using their new coronavirus contract-tracing API, newly renamed ExposureNotification. In a set of guidelines [PDF] for the API released today, the companies said that developers will not be able to access or even seek permission to access location data using the app.
That makes the Love Bug computer virus 20 years old today, depending on your timezone and how early in the infection chain you were. It was 20 years ago today That the Love Bug virus came to play.
The success of contact tracing apps will then depend on the overall active uptake by users, and whether the big data analysts have got their figures right. "Numerous vulnerabilities have been discovered like BlueFrag, which affected IOS and Android." He also warns, "Contact tracing apps need to be regularly tested for vulnerabilities and critical updates must be deployed immediately. These apps must also be prohibited from activating smart assistants. People must limit the location settings to run only when approved and when in use."
Google and Apple unveiled a joint initiative Friday to develop a coronavirus smartphone "Contact tracing" tool that could potentially alert people when they have crossed paths with an infected person. "All of us at Apple and Google believe there has never been a more important moment to work together to solve one of the world's most pressing problems," the companies said in a joint statement.
WhatsApp on Tuesday placed new limits on message forwarding as part of an effort to curb the spread of misinformation about the coronavirus pandemic. The new policy limits users to forwarding certain messages to one "Chat" at a time, aiming to limit the rapid propagation of content which is provocative but likely to be false.
Inti De Ceukelaire of bug-bounty platform Intigriti claimed earlier this month hundreds of corporate service portals have been exposed to the internet, a 12 per cent increase since he scanned the internet for them last summer - an increase the COVID-19 crisis may have contributed to. As a proof of concept, De Ceukelaire targeted a set of corporate Atlassian service desk portals he found facing the internet.
The State of Western Australia has given itself the power to install surveillance devices in homes, or compel people to wear them, to ensure that those required to isolate during the coronavirus crisis don't interact with the community. It outlines the monitoring regime, and the fact that the State Emergency Coordinator has the power to require use of surveillance hardware.
Criminals are preying on a fearful public and disrupting the provision of medical care during the coronavirus pandemic by selling counterfeit products, impersonating health workers and hacking computers as many citizens do their jobs online at home, European law enforcement agency Europol said Friday. "Criminals have quickly seized the opportunities to exploit the crisis by adapting their modes of operation or developing new criminal activities," Europol Executive Director, Catherine de Bolle said in a statement.
Malicious COVID-19 domains and special virus-themed sales on the dark web are two ways criminals are using the outbreak to ramp up business, said security provider Check Point. Two ways that bad actors are taking advantage of the crisis is through coronavirus domain names and sales on the dark web, as described in a blog post published Thursday by Check Point Security.