Apple released an iOS update Monday to fix a serious vulnerability that could allow attackers to remotely execute malicious code on the Broadcom Wi-Fi chips used in iPhones, iPads, and iPods. The vulnerability is a stack buffer overflow in the feature that handles authentication responses for the fast BSS transition feature of the 802.11r protocol,…
Two GoFundMe campaigns have raised more than US$290,000 in an effort to buy the web browsing histories of U.S. politicians after Congress voted to allow broadband providers to sell customers’ personal information without their permission. It’s unclear if those efforts will succeed, however. Even though Congress scrapped the FCC’s ISP privacy rules last week, the Telecommunications Act still…
These have been grim days for fans of the Mac, Apple has not updated the Mac Pro in almost four years. The Mac mini has also languished for almost three years, while the iMac hasn’t been updated in almost two years. But all that might be about to change, according to a report on the…
Users who have had their files encrypted by any version of the Bart ransomware program are in luck: Antivirus vendor Bitdefender has just released a free decryption tool. The Bart ransomware appeared back in June and stood out because it locked victims’ files inside ZIP archives encrypted with AES (Advanced Encryption Standard). Unlike other ransomware…
Corporate security pros can add a new task to their busy days: handling panicky employees worried about privacy who are using the onion router (Tor) browser as a way to protect their online activity. That practice translates into additional security alerts that require time-consuming manual sorting to determine whether the persons behind Tor sessions are…
DigitalOcean’s cloud platform became more useful to developers running production applications on Tuesday with the addition of monitoring capabilities for its virtual machines. Customers will be able to set alerts on the performance of their VMs, so that they’re notified via email or Slack when certain conditions are met. For example, users could set an…
While some people considered Google Glass eyewear simply cool or nosy, the devices were a gold mine of innovation for Pete Jameson. Jameson, the chief operating officer at Osterhout Design Group, believes Google Glass spread awareness and spawned innovation in eyewear. ODG is among a few companies bringing forward new ideas to make smartglasses practical.…
At the Dataworks Summit/Hadoop Summit in Munich today Hortonworks unveiled the latest version of its Apache Hadoop distribution, with features that focus on boosting the performance of SQL interactive queries and optimizing existing enterprise data warehouse (EDW) investments. “It’s all about performance, flexibility and choice,” says Scott Gnau, CTO of Hortonworks. “We’ve made some significant…
Intel’s finally washing its hands of McAfee after seven up and down years, which included a lawsuit last year from John McAfee, after whom the company is named. The chip maker has divested its majority holdings in McAfee to investment firm TPG for US$3.1 billion. McAfee will now again become a standalone security company, but…
Security researchers have uncovered the Android version of an iOS spyware known as Pegasus in a case that shows how targeted electronic surveillance can be. Called Chrysaor, the Android variant can steal data from messaging apps, snoop over a phone’s camera or microphone, and even erase itself. On Monday, Google and security firm Lookout disclosed…