Podcast

Rumbling with Gatekeeper — Mac Geek Gab 870

John F. Braun & Dave Hamilton · · Add Comment

Apple’s protective engines usually do well at protecting our devices, but what happens when they go haywire? It’s time to Rumble, that’s what, and John and Dave are here to help! Listen as they answer your questions, share Cool Stuff Found, push out the Quick Tips and make it easy to learn at least five new things this week!

TMO Deals

Switchmate 2.0 Smart Switch for Toggle Style Light Switches: $19.99

Bryan Chaffin ·

We have a deal on Switchmate 2.0, a smart switch that snaps over your existing light switches and controls them by doing the flipping for you. That means you don’t have to rewire the switch or replace your existing lightbulbs. Using the companion app, the Switchmate 2.0 can respond to voice commands, turn lights on automatically when you arrive home, and it has multiple timers for total smart lighting control. This device is $19.99 through our deal.

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Court Finds NSA Collects Innocent Americans’ Data Anyway

Andrew Orr ·

The Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court (FISC) found that the NSA doesn’t follow the law and collections the data of innocent Americans. This is according to a recently declassified document [PDF] from November 2020.

From where we sit, it seems clear that the FISC continues to suffer from a massive case of national security constitutional-itis. That is the affliction (not really, we made it up) where ordinarily careful judges sworn to defend the Constitution effectively ignore the flagrant Fourth Amendment violations that occur when the NSA, FBI, (and to a lesser extent, the CIA, and NCTC) misuse the justification of national security to spy on Americans en mass.

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Over 29,000 Databases Expose 19 Petabytes of Data

Andrew Orr ·

Many companies aren’t properly securing their databases, like the one I wrote about this morning. But we have some numbers. CyberNews quotes “29,000 unprotected databases worldwide exposing 19 petabytes (19,000 terabytes, 19,000,000 gigabytes, etc) of data.

To conduct this investigation, we used a specialized search engine to scan for open databases of three of the most popular database types: Hadoop, MongoDB, and Elasticsearch. While performing the search, we made sure that the open databases we found required no authentication whatsoever and were open for anyone to access, as opposed to those that had default credentials enabled.

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Apple Card Family Features, Restrictions Revealed in Support Document

Charlotte Henry ·

Apple has released a support document outlining the features of the recently launched Apple Card Family. AppleInsider published a breakdown of what it says.

Detailed in a support document, Apple Card Family is available to one cardholder and one member of their Family Sharing group who is 18 or older. Touted as a rethinking of traditional credit cards, the new service enables both members of an account to share a credit line while simultaneously building credit. A total of six people, including owners or co-owners, can be assigned to a particular Apple Card account. Participants must be 13 or older. Co-owners share full responsibility for account balance and payments, and have their credit reported equally in their own name, Apple says.

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Finnish Mental Health Startup Vastaamo Leaked Patient Data

Andrew Orr ·

Vastaamo ran the largest network of private mental-health providers in Finland. William Ralston tells the story on WIRED, and how hackers used the data to threaten patients.

A security flaw in the company’s IT systems had exposed its entire patient database to the open internet—not just email addresses and social security numbers, but the actual written notes that therapists had taken. A group of hackers, or one masquerading as many, had gotten hold of the data.

What an incompetent company. No anonymization of patient records, no encryption of data. In other words, unfortunately common. Two developers hired at Vastaamo were even arrested in a previous security breach.

Cool Stuff Found

'Mythic Quest' Season Two Arrives on Apple TV+

Charlotte Henry ·

Mythic Quest season two is here! The first two episodes of the follow-up season are now available to Apple TV+ subscribers, with new episodes being released every Friday. The comedy series follows the trials and tribulations of a company behind a very popular game. I’ve recently been catching up on season one and thoroughly enjoying it, so I can’t wait to see what this next one has to offer.

TMO Deals

Pre-Order ScoutPro Ultimate All-in-One Charger: $99

Bryan Chaffin ·

We have a pre-order deal on the ScoutPro, an all-in-one charger that ships in July. This device features a large 24,000mAh internal battery and it can charge up to five devices simultaneously. It has two USB-C charging ports and a USB-A charging port. It also has magnetic wirelesss charging for iPhone 12 devices and a spot to charge your Apple Watch.  The pre-order deal is $99.

Encrypted Storage App ‘Boxcryptor’ Integrates Better With Files App
Cool Stuff Found

Encrypted Storage App ‘Boxcryptor’ Integrates Better With Files App

Andrew Orr ·

Boxcryptor received a major update for iOS and iPadOS that eliminates its own file browser. Instead, you’ll browse through your encrypted files completely within Apple’s Files app. Robert Freudenreich explains the decision: “By taking a ‘Files app first’ approach, we enable the best user experience for working with encrypted files in Apple’s Files app.” The integration with the Files app has been in place since iOS 11. But by eliminating the additional Boxcryptor-owned file browser, the Files app now becomes the exclusive file manager. For users, this primarily means an even simpler workflow.