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What to do about Apple’s shameful Mac security flaw (updated)

Credit to Author: Jonny Evans| Date: Wed, 29 Nov 2017 04:13:00 -0800

Complacency and incompetence are the biggest computer security threats, and Apple’s latest Mac security flaw seems to combine both of these. The flaw means anyone with physical access to your Mac can get inside the machine and tinker with it.

UPDATE (29 November  9:30am PDT): Apple has issued an apology and a patch to rectify this problem, more details here.

What’s the problem with macOS High Sierra?

The problem (which first got disclosed here) was first revealed in a Tweet by Lemi Orhan Ergin, who wrote:

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Lock it down: The macOS security guide (updated)

Credit to Author: Jonny Evans| Date: Wed, 15 Nov 2017 06:11:00 -0800

Malware is everywhere, and Macs are not immune. You can ignore the potential threat if you choose, but if you are an enterprise user holding confidential data, an educator in possession of private data, or even a Bitcoin collector who maybe clicked a few too many links on one of those dodgy faucet websites, you should know how to secure your Mac.

First, some common sense security tips

Before we get into some of the security technology inside your Mac (including a wide range of security improvements in High Sierra) it is important to point out that the biggest threat your computer faces is the person using it. Cyber attackers are highly sophisticated and can piece together lots of information about you or companies associated with you by simply getting a little more data a little at a time. Make it hard for those people by following simple tips, including:

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ComputerWorldIndependent
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What to do about Apple’s shameful Mac security flaw

Credit to Author: Jonny Evans| Date: Wed, 29 Nov 2017 04:13:00 -0800

Complacency and incompetence are the biggest computer security threats, and Apple’s latest Mac security flaw seems to combine both of these. The flaw means anyone with physical access to your Mac can get inside the machine and tinker with it.

What’s the problem?

The problem (which first got disclosed here) was first revealed in a Tweet by Lemi Orhan Ergin, who wrote:

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ComputerWorldIndependent
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Microsoft Patch Alert: November’s forced upgrades, broken printers and more

Credit to Author: Woody Leonhard| Date: Tue, 28 Nov 2017 13:08:00 -0800

There are so many issues with this month’s security patches that it’s hard to decide where to begin. Let’s start with the problems that have been acknowledged, then move into the realm of what’s not yet fully defined.

Forced upgrades

Many users have remarked about how much the forced 1703-to-1709 Windows 10 upgrades feel like Microsoft’s detested forced upgrades from Win 7 and 8.1 to 10 – the “Get Windows X” campaign. Although the situation’s different on the surface, the net result is the same. Many people who were happily using Windows 10 Fall Update – version 1703 – were forcibly upgraded this month to the Fall Creators Update – version 1709 – even on systems that were not supposed to be upgraded.

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HP stealthily installs new spyware called HP Touchpoint Analytics Client

Credit to Author: Woody Leonhard| Date: Mon, 27 Nov 2017 13:29:00 -0800

Hard to imagine in this age of privacy scandals, but HP is installing a telemetry client on its customers’ computers — and it isn’t offering any warning, or asking permission, before delivering the payload.

Dubbed “HP Touchpoint Analytics Service,” HP says it “harvests telemetry information that is used by HP Touchpoint’s analytical services.” Apparently, it’s HP Touchpoint Analytics Client version 4.0.2.1435.

There are dozens of reports of this new, ahem, service scattered all over the internet. According to Günter Born, reports of the infection go all the way back to Nov. 15, when poster MML on BleepingComputer said:

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Microsoft Thanksgiving turkeys: One patch disappears, another yanked

Credit to Author: Woody Leonhard| Date: Mon, 27 Nov 2017 06:37:00 -0800

For those of us keeping track of Windows patches, the long four-day weekend in the U.S. felt like another instantiation of Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride. Here are the developments, in more or less chronological (which is to say, not logical at all) order.

While many of you were sneaking out the door early on Wednesday, Microsoft released KB 4055038, a fix for bugs that clobbered Epson dot matrix printers, introduced in this month’s Patch Tuesday security patches. I talked about the bug two weeks ago. In short, a bug in all of this month’s Windows security patches caused Epson dot matrix printer drivers to fail. The bug appeared in:

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ComputerWorldIndependent
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Why we can’t trust smartphones anymore

Credit to Author: Mike Elgan| Date: Sat, 25 Nov 2017 02:00:00 -0800

Your smartphone may contain secret “features” that leave you vulnerable.

I’m not talking about accidental design flaws that hackers might exploit. Security issues have always existed. They represent a cat-and-mouse game between malicious actors, who try to break smartphone security, and the smartphone industry, which tries to identify and fix the accidental vulnerabilities that make phones susceptible to hackers. Nothing new about that.

What I’m talking about is a new phenomenon — a trend we’ve learned about only in the past few weeks.

I’m talking about design decisions made by smartphone companies that cause phones to do things invisibly, behind the scenes and behind your back, that make phones potentially less secure.

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