Apple fixes serious security flaw after UAE dissident's iPhone targeted

Apple fixes serious security flaw after UAE dissident's iPhone targeted

Apple fixes serious security flaw after UAE dissident's iPhone targeted

Apple fixes serious security flaw after UAE dissident’s iPhone targeted


 
Apple Inc (AAPL.O) issued a patch on Thursday to fix a dangerous security hole in iPhones and iPads after researchers discovered that a prominent United Arab Emirates dissident’s phone had been targeted with a previously unknown method of hacking.The attack on the dissident, Ahmed Mansoor, used a text message that invited him to click on a web link. Instead of clicking, he forwarded the message to researchers at the University of Toronto’s Citizen Lab.Experts there worked with security company Lookout and determined that the link would have installed a program taking advantage of a flaw that Apple and others were not aware of. The researchers disclosed their findings on Thursday.The researchers said that they had alerted Apple, whoch developed a fix and distributed it as an automatic update to iPhone 6 owners.Apple spokesman Fred Sainz confirmed that the company had issued the patch after being contacted by researchers about the issue.

Källa: Apple fixes serious security flaw after UAE dissident’s iPhone targeted | Reuters

Apple fixes serious security flaw after UAE dissident’s iPhone targeted

Apple fixes serious security flaw after UAE dissident’s iPhone targeted

Apple fixes serious security flaw after UAE dissident's iPhone targeted

Apple fixes serious security flaw after UAE dissident’s iPhone targeted

 

Apple Inc (AAPL.O) issued a patch on Thursday to fix a dangerous security hole in iPhones and iPads after researchers discovered that a prominent United Arab Emirates dissident’s phone had been targeted with a previously unknown method of hacking.The attack on the dissident, Ahmed Mansoor, used a text message that invited him to click on a web link. Instead of clicking, he forwarded the message to researchers at the University of Toronto’s Citizen Lab.Experts there worked with security company Lookout and determined that the link would have installed a program taking advantage of a flaw that Apple and others were not aware of. The researchers disclosed their findings on Thursday.The researchers said that they had alerted Apple, whoch developed a fix and distributed it as an automatic update to iPhone 6 owners.Apple spokesman Fred Sainz confirmed that the company had issued the patch after being contacted by researchers about the issue.

Källa: Apple fixes serious security flaw after UAE dissident’s iPhone targeted | Reuters

Apple fixes serious security flaw after UAE dissident’s iPhone targeted

US parents largely unaware of what their children do online, research finds

US parents largely unaware of what their children do online, research finds

US parents largely unaware of what their children do online, research finds

 

The parents of America’s digitally literate teenagers are largely in the dark about their children’s internet activity, new research has shown.

The new study on teen internet use by the National Cyber Security Alliance found that only 13% of teens thought their parents understood the extent of their internet use.

The survey of 804 online teens and 810 parents of teens found that 60% of teens have created accounts for apps or social media sites without their parents’ knowledge. Only 28% of parents thought their teens had accounts they didn’t know about.

The gap between what teens are doing and what their parents know about is indicative of what the NCSA is calling a “digital disconnect between American teens and parents”.

Another example of this disconnect was the wide disparity between how many parents say they have certain rules for their teenagers’ online activities and how many teens agreed.

Källa: US parents largely unaware of what their children do online, research finds | Technology | The Guardian

Apple fixes serious security flaw after UAE dissident’s iPhone targeted

Apple tackles iPhone one-tap spyware flaws

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Flaws in Apple’s iOS operating system have been discovered that made it possible to install spyware on a target’s device merely by getting them to click on a link.The discovery was made after a human rights lawyer alerted security researchers to unsolicited text messages he had received.They discovered three previously unknown flaws within Apple’s code.Apple has since released a software update that addresses the problem.The two security firms involved, Citizen Lab and Lookout, said they had held back details of the discovery until the fix had been issued.

The lawyer, Ahmed Mansoor, received the text messages on 10 and 11 August.
The texts promised to reveal “secrets” about people allegedly being tortured in the United Arab Emirates (UAE)’s jails if he tapped the links.
Had he done so, Citizen Lab says, his iPhone 6 would have been “jailbroken”, meaning unauthorised software could have been installed.

Källa: Apple tackles iPhone one-tap spyware flaws – BBC News

Apple fixes serious security flaw after UAE dissident’s iPhone targeted

Apple Software Vulnerability Is Linked to Intrusions

Apple Software Vulnerability Is Linked to Intrusions

Apple Software Vulnerability Is Linked to Intrusions

 

SAN FRANCISCO — One of the world’s most evasive digital arms dealers is believed to have been taking advantage of three security vulnerabilities in popular Apple products in its efforts to spy on dissidents and journalists.Investigators discovered that a company called the NSO Group, an Israeli outfit that sells software that invisibly tracks a target’s mobile phone, was responsible for the intrusions. The NSO Group’s software can read text messages and emails and track calls and contacts. It can even record sounds, collect passwords and trace the whereabouts of the phone user.In response, Apple on Thursday released a patched version of its mobile software, iOS 9.3.5. Users can get the patch through a normal software update.Apple fixed the holes 10 days after a tip from two researchers, Bill Marczak and John Scott Railton, at Citizen Lab at the University of Toronto’s Munk School of Global Affairs, and Lookout, a San Francisco mobile security company.

Källa: Apple Software Vulnerability Is Linked to Intrusions – The New York Times