Weekly Mac Security and Tech News Roundup: 4/19/13
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by
Rebecca Kelley
It’s been a heavy, somber week in the United States, beginning with the Boston Marathon bombings on Monday, the fertilizer plant explosion in West, Texas, and the police shootout at MIT. Intego’s thoughts are with each event’s victims and their families in these difficult times.
On the security side of things, we want to remind our readers to be extra careful online as there is a lot of spam circulating that’s trying to capitalize on the recent explosions and the Boston tragedy. Be especially careful of bogus Boston Marathon charity websites. Only donate to reputable, established organizations (such as the Red Cross), and do not donate to anything via Facebook or other social media sites without verifying the charities’ validity.
That said, here’s what we found interesting or noteworthy from this past week:
Security News
- CISPA, a controversial data-sharing bill, has passed the House of Representatives. The bill overrules existing federal and state laws and would permit police to conduct database searches without a warrant. It now faces the Senate and could also potentially get vetoed by the president. Meanwhile, a former Google engineer is building a service to stop companies from tracking people online.
- Lifehacker has a great article about why you should use antivirus, even if you browse carefully.
From the Intego Blog
- Some WordPress sites have been hit by a “dictionary attack” that uses a list of common passwords to try and log into WordPress accounts using the default “Admin” profile. Make sure you use complex passwords for your WordPress sites, and create a different account with admin privileges other than the default “Admin” one.
- You’ve breathed a sigh of relief now that your taxes have been filed. Now what? Here’s how you can keep any tax information that’s still on your computer safe and secure.
- Softonic had been delivering a Trojan adware installer to its users, though it appears to have stopped. Nonetheless, we wrote about the fake installer packages and how VirusBarrier will detect the components of the threat as OSX/Okaz.A.
- Safari 6.0.4 has been released, which fixes a WebKit flaw and adds per-site Java enabling to Safari.
Apple News
- On Wednesday, Apple’s shares dipped below $400 for the first time since December 2011. Despite this downturn, however, keep in mind that Apple sells 5% of PCs worldwide but makes 45% of the profit. That’s good for Apple’s bottom line (less so for consumers’ wallets).
- Apparently there’s a “growing level of dissatisfaction among Apple executives and employees,” and increasing numbers of Apple employees are leaving to work at startups.
- A judge has dismissed a lawsuit filed in 2011 alleging the MacBook Pro’s battery life was miserably poor and counteracted Apple’s claims of “huge leaps in performance.”
- iPhone sales in India have boosted Apple India’s profit over 400%.
- Apple has admitted that the comments you make to Siri are stored on their servers for up to two years.
- A new version of sn0wbreeze (version 2.9.14) has been released. It includes support for the iOS 6.1.3 jailbreak for A4 devices.
Notable Tech News
- YouTube successfully defended itself from a huge copyright lawsuit filed by Viacom. A federal judge ruled YouTube has not violated Viacom’s copyright even though YouTube’s users have been allowed to post “unauthorized video clips” from Viacom shows such as The Daily Show and SpongeBob Squarepants.
- Hactivist group Anonymous has raised nearly $55,000 through crowdsourced fundraising site Indiegogo to launch a dedicated news site for “Your Anon News.”
- There’s a new lithium-ion battery being designed that’s 2,000 more powerful than current batteries and can recharge 1,000 times faster.
- Samsung has admitted to hiring students to post fake reviews online and bash competitors on popular forums.
Random Awesomeness
- How do Genius Bar employees determine whether to void your MacBook’s warranty? With a “Dent Inspection Tool,” of course!
- A new Android app lets Icelanders bump phones with each other to make sure they’re not cousins in case they wanted to hook up for a date or bump uglies. Apparently when you live in a country with only 300,000 residents, accidentally bedding your cousin is a legitimate threat.
- An iPad app called Hopscotch teaches kids computer programming by using a visual programming language.
- The iPhone is being used as a therapeutic aide for some people. In this instance, it helps curb panic attacks and improve mental health.
- I wouldn’t say the iPad “saved this man’s life,” but the dweeby act of taking photos with an iPad certainly spared this softball spectator from getting knocked in the face.
- PC World has an amusing article about “ancient computers” used by businesses today. Apparently the U.S. Secret Service uses a mainframe computer system from the 1980s that works “60 percent of the time.”
We hope you all have a safe weekend, and don’t forget to stay informed and smart while you’re poking around online.