Bob Gendler is an IT Specialist in the Apple world and a Jamf guru. He holds a B.S. degree in Information Technology from the Rochester Institute of Technology. He is now part of the Mac Management team at NIST, the National Institute of Standards and Technology, in Washington, D.C.
From a very early age, Bob fell into the world of Apple starting with an Apple IIgs and, as a teenager, a Power Mac 6100. Quickly, as an undergraduate, his specialty became system administration, and, later, that served him well landing the job at NIST. Bob filled me in on his latest project, the “macOS Security Compliance Project,” and the security problem the community faced with macOS. Basically, the new GitHub project leverages a library of scriptable actions which are mapped to compliance requirements in existing security guides or used to develop customized guidance. Bob nicely explains this crucial tool, his team, and who would benefit.
Andrew Orr joins host Kelly Guimont for Security Friday to discuss Apple’s new security research, a privacy app, and other security news.
Over 1,000 insecure databases have been completely erased, and the attackers leave no trace except the word “meow.”
Since then, Meow and a similar attack have destroyed more than 1,000 other databases. At the time this post went live, the Shodan computer search site showed that 987 ElasticSearch and 70 MongoDB instances had been nuked by Meow. A separate, less-malicious attack tagged an additional 616 ElasticSearch, MongoDB, and Cassandra files with the string “university_cybersec_experiment.” The attackers in this case seem to be demonstrating to the database maintainers that the files are vulnerable to being viewed or deleted.
Better erased than breached, right?
TikTok has faced accusations of data collecting and spying for the Chinese government. Here’s what the experts say.
First, over a million DNA profiles from GEDmatch were leaked. Then, email addresses from the breach were used in a phishing attack against users of genealogy website MyHeritage.
As a result of this breach, all user permissions were reset, making all profiles visible to all users. This was the case for approximately 3 hours. During this time, users who did not opt in for law enforcement matching were available for law enforcement matching and, conversely, all law enforcement profiles were made visible to GEDmatch users.
If GEDmatch sounds familiar, it was the DNA database used to identify the Golden State Killer.
The Apple Security Research Device program launched today, and it aims to provide special iPhones to researchers with shell access.
Kingston has added 128GB capacities to its line of encrypted flash drives. The announcement lists several drives, like the DataTraveler Locker+ G3, DataTraveler Vault Privacy 3.0, and DataTraveler 4000G2 (Available July 27). Richard Kanadjian, encrypted USB drive business manager, Kingston: “Within our full line of encrypted drives, we offer high levels of encryption, fast USB 3.0 performance and after 10 intrusion attempts, the drives lock down so users can rest assured their data is safe.”
Andrew Orr joins host Kelly Guimont to discuss Security Friday news tidbits, tips for security on iOS 14, and how to share passwords safely.
An Apple ID recovery key is an extra layer of security for your account. But you can be permanently locked out if you lose it, so be careful.
The U.S. Secret Service sent out a security alert to warn of an increase in hacking to Managed Service Providers. These provide remote management software for companies, like file-sharing systems.
In a security alert sent out on June 12, Secret Service officials said their investigations team (GIOC — Global Investigations Operations Center) has been seeing an increase in incidents where hackers breach MSP solutions and use them as a springboard into the internal networks of the MSP’s customers.
Security researcher Jeff Johnson is going public with a flaw found in a macOS privacy protection system. Apple is still investigating the issue.
A new piece of macOS ransomware has been spotted in the wild within multiple pirated Mac software, and it’s called OSX.EvilQuest.
A WWDC20 presentation shows how Apple is adding support for encrypted DNS to iOS 14 and macOS 11. It will support HTTPS and TLS.
A feature coming to Safari 14 later this year involves logging into websites with Face ID and Touch ID through the Web Authentication API.
Senators Lindsey Graham (R-South Carolina), Tom Cotton (R-Arkansas) and Marsha Blackburn (R-Tennessee) introduced the Lawful Access to Encrypted Data Act yesterday. It seeks to bring back the Crypto Wars of the 1990s by crippling encryption with the introduction of backdoors.
Yet increasingly, technology providers are deliberately designing their products and services so that only the user, and not law enforcement, has access to content – even when criminal activity is clearly taking place. This type of “warrant-proof” encryption adds little to the security of the communications of the ordinary user, but it is a serious benefit for those who use the internet for illicit purposes.
”Adds little to the security of the communications of the ordinary user.” That’s the level of contempt these people have for the rest of us.
TDashlane Family Plans are here, the company announced today. Two offerings provide password management for up to six family members. Premium Family is US$7.49/month and gives you features like dark web monitoring, VPN service, two-factor authentication, personalize security alerts, and more. Premium Plus Family is US$14.99 and gives you the features of Premium Family with three additions: Credit monitoring, identity restoration support, and identity theft insurance.
An investigation from Amnesty International reveals that NSO Group tools were used to target human rights journalist Omar Radi via his iPhone.
Through our investigation we were able to confirm that his phone was targeted and put under surveillance during the same period he was prosecuted. This illustrates how human rights defenders (HRDs) may often have to deal with the twin challenges of digital surveillance alongside other tactics of criminalisation at the hands of Moroccan authorities leading to a shrinking space for dissent.
The same NSO Group that hopes to woo American law enforcement with its dazzlingly array of hacking tools.
Team Telcom is calling on the FCC to cancel part of an undersea cable that links Los Angeles to Hong Kong over Chinese spying fears.
A report from Sophos today reveals a wave of adware belonging to the Bundlore family that targets macOS. Bundlore is one of the most common bundlware installers for macOS, accounting for almost 7% of attacks detected by Sophos.
This installer carried a total of seven “potentially unwanted applications” (PUAs)—including three that targeted the Safari web browser for the injection of ads, hijacking of download links, and redirecting of search queries for the purpose of stealing users’ clicks to generate income. The injected content in at least one case was used for malvertising—popping up a malicious ad that prompted the download of a fake Adobe Flash update.
