An explosive spyware report shows limits of iOS, Android security

Enlarge / A report this week indicates that the problem of high-caliber spyware is far more widespread than previously feared. (credit: Pau Barrena | Getty Images) The shadowy world of private spyware has long caused alarm in cybersecurity circles, as authoritarian governments have repeatedly been caught targeting the smartphones of activists, journalists,...

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Researchers demonstrate that malware can be hidden inside AI models

Enlarge / This photo has a job application for Boston University hidden within it. The technique introduced by Wang, Liu, and Cui could hide data inside an image classifier rather than just an image. (credit: Keith McDuffy CC-BY 2.0) Researchers Zhi Wang, Chaoge Liu, and Xiang Cui published a paper last Monday demonstrating a new technique for slipping...

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Teardown reveals how much capacity Apple’s $99 MagSafe Battery Pack has

The inside of the MagSafe Battery Pack. This week, Apple launched the MagSafe Battery Pack for the iPhone 12, iPhone 12 mini, iPhone 12 Pro, and iPhone 12 Pro Max. But until the product found its way into peoples' hands, there were some unknowns. Some of those questions have now been answered in a new teardown...

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Google is finally doing something about Google Drive spam

Enlarge / Blocking individual users in Google Drive! Finally! (credit: Google) A notification pops up on your phone: "Click here for hot XXX action!" It's Google Drive again. Someone shared a document containing that title, and now your phone is begging you to look at it. Even if you ban Google Drive from generating phone notifications, you'll still...

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Google’s Wear OS 3 update plans will leave most existing devices behind

Enlarge / A Wear OS watch. (credit: Ron Amadeo) Google has provided a few more details about its upcoming Wear OS update plans. As we've reported, Google and Samsung are teaming up to resurrect the struggling Wear OS. Samsung is ditching Tizen watches and bringing its Exynos SoCs to the Wear OS platform, and Google will start Wear OS development...

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Kaseya gets master decryptor to help customers still suffering from REvil attack

Enlarge (credit: Getty Images) Kaseya—the remote management software seller at the center of a ransomware operation that struck as many as 1,500 downstream networks—said it has obtained a decryptor that should successfully restore data encrypted during the Fourth of July weekend attack. Affiliates of REvil, one of the Internet’s most cutthroat ransomware...

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iPadOS 14.7 and macOS Big Sur 11.5 come with plenty of bug fixes and security updates

Enlarge / The front of the 2019 iPad Air, which has since been replaced with a more modern design. (credit: Samuel Axon) Apple has released new versions of its iPadOS and macOS operating systems just a couple of days after the company updated iOS, watchOS, and tvOS. The iPadOS update adds some new features and shares a lot with its iOS counterpart,...

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Today’s massive Internet outage comes courtesy of Akamai Edge DNS

Enlarge / "Dude, it can't be DNS." "How much you wanna bet?" (credit: PeopleImages via Getty Images) A massive Internet outage today has downdetector.com covered in warnings for popular websites and services, such as the PlayStation Network, Steam, Fidelity Investments, Airbnb, FedEx, LastPass, UPS, Amazon, and others. The root cause of the outage...

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Google pushed a one-character typo to production, bricking Chrome OS devices

Enlarge (credit: Bloomberg / Getty Images) Google says it has fixed a major Chrome OS bug that locked users out of their devices. Google's bulletin says that Chrome OS version 91.0.4472.165, which was briefly available this week, renders users unable to log in to their devices, essentially bricking them. Chrome OS automatically downloads updates...

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Home and office routers come under attack by China state hackers, France warns

Enlarge (credit: Getty Images) China state hackers are compromising large numbers of home and office routers for use in a vast and ongoing attack against organizations in France, authorities from that county said. The hacking group—known in security circles as APT31, Zirconium, Panda, and other names—has historically conducted espionage campaigns...

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