- 🗒️✅ Your Security Checklist
- 🏆🎖️ Test Your Security Skills
- 📰 Your Weekly Security Update
- 🤨 This Should Be on Your Radar 📡
- 🙈 Security Fail of the Week 👎
- 🍎📱 Security Updates from Apple 🍎
If you take nothing else from this newsletter, just do these three things to protect yourself:
- Use a strong password to secure your password manager. While you should allow your password manager to create passwords for you, you will need to come up with a strong password to protect the password manager itself.
- Set up MFA codes in your password manager. Most password managers, including the Passwords app, can generate two-factor/multi-factor authentication codes for your accounts.
- Lock sensitive notes with a password. You can lock specific notes in the Notes app behind Face ID or a unique password.
Which of these is an example of a strong password? 🤔
- glue-pen-precision-contact
- G0Hawks!79
- Password1234
- go-hawks-1979
Scroll to the bottom to see how you did!
Apple is suing OpenAI for allegedly stealing trade secrets and equipment. Many OpenAI employees are former Apple employees who Apple believes took company equipment and other confidential information when they left the company. Apple is claiming that OpenAI's chief hardware officer, who was an Apple employee for 24 years, kept his company laptop and emailed himself information about Apple's suppliers before decamping for OpenAI. He then allegedly handed these details over to OpenAI and encouraged other Apple employees to do the same. Head over to Wired for more details on the story.
The Bottom Line: If Apple's claims are accurate, it would appear they have a very serious case against OpenAI. OpenAI is developing a line of AI-powered hardware that, if this lawsuit proves true, will have been built on Apple technology.
Anyone Can Use Your Instagram Photos with Meta AI
Meta has launched a new AI image-generation tool called Muse Image. Muse Image can create new images or edit existing ones using the photos on Instagram. Meta has not notified anyone that their photos are now being used by this AI tool. Thankfully, you can easily opt out in the Instagram app. Read more at TechCrunch.
The Bottom Line: If you do not want Muse Image to use your photos, you can go to your Instagram profile, tap the three horizontal lines in the upper right, scroll down to "Sharing and reuse," and find "Allow people to use your content on Instagram with AI features on Meta." Switch off the toggles for both Reels and Posts.
How Microsoft Can Identify Your Computer
It was recently confirmed by Microsoft that all installations of Windows have a Global Device Identifier (GDID). The GDID is generated when logging into a Microsoft account while setting up Windows and cannot be disabled without completely reinstalling the operating system. This GDID is kept internally by Microsoft and can be used to identify which account a specific computer belongs to, even when using a VPN. By tracking the GDID, the FBI was able to identify and track down an alleged member of the Scattered Spider hacking group, despite their use of anonymizing tools like VPNs. Check out the full story at Ghacks.
The Bottom Line: Windows does not give any type of warning or ask for consent before assigning you a GDID, which can be used to track your computer and its activity. For those who have legitimate need to use the internet anonymously, such as journalists, whistleblowers, and activists, this is bad and surprising news—to avoid being identified by a GDID, you will have to do your anonymous browsing inside a virtual machine, and regularly reinstall Windows on that virtual machine to change your GDID, or else use Linux or macOS.
Police Surround Journalist After Flock Falsely Reports Car as Stolen
An automotive journalist, Joel Feder, found himself surrounded by police and being questioned about his car. According to the police, they used Flock cameras to track down the car as its plate had been reported stolen. This was shocking to Feder, as car dealerships frequently loan different cars to him to test them for his website. As it turned out, Flock's AI tech had recorded the wrong license plate number. To make this story even worse, it was later discovered that the license plate reported stolen had actually just been misplaced after a photo shoot. Read more at Futurism or check out Feder's first-hand account at The Drive.
The Bottom Line: AI tools make mistakes, including those built into Flock. Despite this, law enforcement continues to use them without due evaluation. This is unlikely to be the last time an innocent person is confronted or arrested by police based on incorrect information from Flock. If your city has installed Flock cameras or is considering them, we recommend voicing any concerns you have about them to your local representatives.
Scammers Targeting Facebook Accounts
Scammers are using a new phishing technique targeting Facebook accounts. Using an account called "Meta Verrified" (note the extra R), a scammer sends out a message claiming to be an announcement from Meta about your Facebook account. Through this "announcement," the scammer tells you that your account will be closed soon and typically provides a link to a page where you can appeal this decision. The link is, of course, a phishing link for the scammer to steal your login credentials or payment information. Read more about this scam from Kurt the CyberGuy at Fox News.
The Bottom Line: If you receive a message claiming to be from Meta, it is likely you are being targeted by this scam. If you suspect you've received a scam message, remain calm and visit Meta Support to get help with your account and find out if it is actually in any danger of being closed.
Smartglasses & Surveillance
Kylie Jenner has partnered with Meta to design a new lineup of smartglasses, all of which come equipped with built-in cameras, like the rest of Meta's eyewear. This collaboration has further fanned the flames of controversy for Meta's smartglasses. These glasses are becoming a big problem for everyone's privacy. Amy O'Brien at Vogue wrote a great article on how smartglasses are helping to create a surveillance state.
The Bottom Line: Smartglasses have always been a cool idea in theory, but in practice, there is just too much risk to privacy to make them worth it. We recommend avoiding smartglasses if you value your privacy and the privacy of those around you.
Stalkers Can Use Chrome Profiles Against Victims
Stalkers and abusers have found a new way to spy on their victims, and it doesn't require any special apps or software. Instead, they're taking advantage of Google Chrome's sync feature, which saves browsing history, bookmarks, passwords, and more to the logged-in Google account and allows the owner of that account to view them from any device. All it requires is for the stalker to log in to their own Google account on the victim's device. Then, if the victim were to search for something like survivor support resources, the abuser would know about it since the search history would sync with their account. Read more at Certo Software.
The Bottom Line: Most browsers have a sync feature built in, even the privacy-focused ones like Firefox and DuckDuckGo. The best way to defend against this technique is to double-check that no unknown accounts have been added to your browser. The Certo article above has instructions for checking that in Chrome, and the steps will be similar for other browsers. You can also use incognito/private windows to ensure your search/browsing history isn't saved.
Wikipedia Safe From UK Online Safety Act
A few years ago, the UK passed its Online Safety Act, which created new requirements for websites with the aim of protecting children from harmful content and combatting misinformation. The act is going into effect next year, but the way it is enforced involves placing websites into different categories with different requirements. Websites are placed into Category 1 (the category with the most restrictions applied) based solely on the number of users they have. This means that a website like Wikipedia would need to implement the same restrictions as social media and adult websites, despite being an informational website. Thankfully, Wikipedia has obtained special permission to avoid the Category 1 designation. Check out Wikipedia's announcement page for more.
The Bottom Line: Wikipedia will not be placed into Category 1 for now. Its designation could be changed at any point in the future.
Why Punish Social Media When We Can Punish Children Instead?
World governments have been busy protecting children from social media by banning them from making accounts. The UK will soon implement a new curfew, which prevents teenagers from browsing social media between midnight and 6 AM. However, youth organizations around the world take issue with these restrictions. These organizations have banded together and put out a statement calling on governments to regulate social media companies and hold them accountable rather than putting the burden on the teenagers harmed by social media. Read the full statement at The Brussels Times.
The Bottom Line: It actually makes a lot of sense to pressure social media companies into changing rather than punishing teenagers around the world. After all, if children and teenagers are the ones being harmed by social media, that makes them the victims, and the social media companies the perpetrators. Holding the perpetrators accountable seems more reasonable than placing restrictions on the victims.
- The most recent iOS and iPadOS is 26.5.2
- The most recent macOS is 26.5.2
- The most recent tvOS is 26.5
- The most recent watchOS is 26.5
- The most recent visionOS is 26.5
Read about the latest updates from Apple.
The correct answer is A. glue-pen-precision-contact. The best way to create a secure password is to use three to four random words. These types of passwords are difficult for a computer to brute force since there is no information to feed it about possible passwords. If you use a password consisting of words that have some significance to you (such as a favorite football team, a birth year, a graduation year, a pet name, a kid's name, etc.), a sophisticated hacker can feed this information to their computer and easily find out your password.
There is far too much security and privacy news for us to cover it all. When building this newsletter, we look for scams, hacks, trouble, and news to illustrate the kinds of problems Apple enthusiasts may encounter in our private lives, and the self-defense we can practice to keep our devices, accounts, and lives secure. Our commentary focuses on practical advice for everyday people. This newsletter was written by Cullen Thomas and Rhett Intriago and edited by August Garry.
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