This Clever New Idea Could Fix AirTag Stalking While Maximizing Privacy
Apple updated its location-tracking system in an attempt to cut down on AirTag abuse while still preserving privacy. Researchers think they’ve found a better balance.
Operation Triangulation: The last (hardware) mystery
Recent iPhone models have additional hardware-based security protection for sensitive regions of the kernel memory. We discovered that to bypass this hardware-based security protection, the attackers used another hardware feature of Apple-designed SoCs.
Known macOS Vulnerabilities Led Researcher to Root Out New Flaws
Researcher shares how he unearthed newer bugs in Apple's operating system by closer scrutiny of previous research, including vulnerabilities that came out of the Pwn2Own competition.
Increased Enterprise Use of iOS, Mac Means More Malware
As use of Apple devices has grown in the enterprise, the company has increasingly become a target for malware threats and other attacks. ISMG spoke with experts and
Apple and Meta Gave User Data to Hackers Who Used Forged Legal Requests
Apple Inc. and Meta Platforms Inc., the parent company of Facebook, provided customer data to hackers who masqueraded as law enforcement officials, according to three people with knowledge of the matter. Apple and Meta provided basic subscriber details, such as a customer’s address, phone number and IP address, in mid-2021 in response to the forged “emergency data requests.” Normally, such requests are only provided with a search warrant or subpoena signed by a judge, according to the people. However, the emergency requests don’t require a court order.
Apple's AirTag uncovers a secret German intelligence agency
A researcher has sent one of Apple's AirTags to a mysterious "federal authority" in Germany to locate its true offices — and to help prove that it's really part of an intelligence agency.
A new macOS Trojan-Proxy is riding on cracked versions of legitimate software; it relies on DNS-over-HTTPS to obtain a C&C (command and control) address. Illegally distributed software historically has served as a way to sneak malware onto victims’ devices. Oftentimes, users are not willing to pay for software tools they need, so they go searching the Web for a “free lunch”. They are an excellent target for cybercriminals who realize that an individual looking for a cracked app will be willing to download an installer from a questionable website and disable security on their machine, and so they will be fairly easy to trick into installing malware as well.
Apple Confirms Governments Using Push Notifications to Surveil Users - MacRumors
Unidentified governments are surveilling smartphone users by tracking push notifications that move through Google's and Apple's servers, a US... In a letter to the Department of Justice, Senator Ron Wyden said foreign officials were demanding the data from the tech giants to track smartphones. The traffic flowing from apps that send push notifications put the companies "in a unique position to facilitate government surveillance of how users are using particular apps," Wyden said. He asked the Department of Justice to "repeal or modify any policies" that hindered public discussions of push notification spying.
Russian Hackers’ Lawsuit Reveals Weaknesses In Apple’s iOS 16
A Moscow legal battle strongly indicates that phone forensics tools used by both the FBI and FSB are exploiting security loopholes in Apple’s operating system.
iPhone: Why Apple is working hard to break into its own phones
In a secret location in Paris, Apple has hired an elite team of laser-wielding hackers to try and crack its iPhones. Andrew Griffin gets an inside look
Known macOS Vulnerabilities Led Researcher to Root Out New Flaws
Researcher shares how he unearthed newer bugs in Apple's operating system by closer scrutiny of previous research, including vulnerabilities that came out of the Pwn2Own competition.
Increased Enterprise Use of iOS, Mac Means More Malware
As use of Apple devices has grown in the enterprise, the company has increasingly become a target for malware threats and other attacks. ISMG spoke with experts and
Apple and Meta Gave User Data to Hackers Who Used Forged Legal Requests
Apple Inc. and Meta Platforms Inc., the parent company of Facebook, provided customer data to hackers who masqueraded as law enforcement officials, according to three people with knowledge of the matter. Apple and Meta provided basic subscriber details, such as a customer’s address, phone number and IP address, in mid-2021 in response to the forged “emergency data requests.” Normally, such requests are only provided with a search warrant or subpoena signed by a judge, according to the people. However, the emergency requests don’t require a court order.
Apple's AirTag uncovers a secret German intelligence agency
A researcher has sent one of Apple's AirTags to a mysterious "federal authority" in Germany to locate its true offices — and to help prove that it's really part of an intelligence agency.
Apple 'Find My' network can be abused to steal keylogged passwords
Apple's "Find My" location network can be abused by malicious actors to stealthily transmit sensitive information captured by keyloggers installed in keyboards. The Find My network and application is designed to help users locate lost or misplaced Apple devices, including iPhones, iPads, Macs, Apple Watches, AirPods, and Apple Tags. The service relies on GPS and Bluetooth data crowd-sourced from millions of Apple devices worldwide to find devices reported as lost or stolen, even if those are offline.
Send My: Arbitrary data transmission via Apple's Find My network | Positive Security
Apple AirTags: Arbitrary data can be uploaded from non-internet-connected devices by sending Find My BLE broadcasts to nearby Apple devices. We're releasing an ESP32 firmware that turns the microcontroller into an (upload only) modem, and a macOS application to retrieve, decode and display the uploaded data.
Triangulation: validators, post-compromise activity and modules | Securelist
In this report Kaspersky shares insights into the validation components used in Operation Triangulation, TriangleDB implant post-compromise activity, as well as details of some additional modules.
0-days exploited by commercial surveillance vendor in Egypt
Last week Google’s Threat Analysis Group (TAG), in partnership with The Citizen Lab, discovered an in-the-wild 0-day exploit chain for iPhones. Developed by the commercial surveillance vendor, Intellexa, this exploit chain is used to install its Predator spyware surreptitiously onto a device. In response, yesterday, Apple patched the bugs in iOS 16.7 and iOS 17.0.1 as CVE-2023-41991, CVE-2023-41992, CVE-2023-41993. This quick patching from Apple helps to better protect users and we encourage all iOS users to install them as soon as possible.
New Apple Zero-Days Exploited to Target Egyptian ex-MP with Predator Spyware
The three zero-day flaws addressed by Apple on September 21, 2023, were leveraged as part of an iPhone exploit chain in an attempt to deliver a spyware strain called Predator targeting former Egyptian member of parliament Ahmed Eltantawy between May and September 2023. "The targeting took place after Eltantawy publicly stated his plans to run for President in the 2024 Egyptian elections," the Citizen Lab said, attributing the attack with high confidence to the Egyptian government owing to it being a known customer of the commercial spying tool.
Apple emergency updates fix 3 new zero-days exploited in attacks
Apple released emergency security updates to patch three new zero-day vulnerabilities exploited in attacks targeting iPhone and Mac users, for a total of 16 zero-days patched this year.
Last Week on My Mac: How quickly can Apple release a security update?
We seldom get much insight into how long Apple takes to release an urgent update to macOS, but last week must have seen one of the quickest in recent times. By my reckoning, Apple’s engineers accomplished that in 6-10 days, across four of its operating systems, and with two distinct vulnerabilities.
Apple discloses 2 new zero-days exploited to attack iPhones, Macs
Apple released emergency security updates to fix two new zero-day vulnerabilities exploited in attacks targeting iPhone and Mac users, for a total of 13 exploited zero-days patched since the start of the year.
Apple’s Decision to Kill Its CSAM Photo-Scanning Tool Sparks Fresh Controversy
Child safety group Heat Initiative plans to launch a campaign pressing Apple on child sexual abuse material scanning and user reporting. The company issued a rare, detailed response on Thursday.