The MacValley blog
Welcome to the MacValley blog, your first stop for all the latest MacValley news and views.
|
The MacValley blog Editor: Tom Briant
|
|
Monday, April 3, 2017
Senior Correspondent Arnold Woodworth's Weekly Web Wrap-up for Sunday 4-2-2017
Phone scammers are tricking people with claims of an iCloud hack
If you get a phone call claiming to be from Apple warning of an iCloud breach, beware: It's a trick.
Telephone scammers are cold-calling people, claiming that iCloud, Apple's cloud service, has been hacked, and asking them to give up their accounts details.
Telephone scammers are cold-calling people, claiming that iCloud, Apple's cloud service, has been hacked, and asking them to give up their accounts details.
Phone scammers have been contacting Apple customers falsely reporting that their iCloud has been compromised.
The data thieves have been disguising themselves as Apple employees in effort to gain access to iCloud users’ accounts.
The data thieves have been disguising themselves as Apple employees in effort to gain access to iCloud users’ accounts.
Telephone Scammers Are Falsely Claiming Apple's iCloud Has Been Hacked
If you get a phone call claiming to be from Apple warning of an iCloud breach, beware: It's a trick.
Telephone scammers are cold-calling people, claiming that iCloud, Apple's cloud service, has been hacked, and asking them to give up their accounts details.
Telephone scammers are cold-calling people, claiming that iCloud, Apple's cloud service, has been hacked, and asking them to give up their accounts details.
Hackers promised an iCloud apocalypse — but probably can't deliver
The leak that cried wolf
The leak that cried wolf
ZDNet examined the largest account drop yet — just under 70,000 login / password pairs — and found that 99.9 percent of the pairs matched accounts already included in a database of previous leaks. In short, the Turkish Crime Family was working from recycled public data.
How to Protect Your iCloud Account, Juuust in Case Those Hackers Aren’t Joking
First, change your password. Especially if it’s one that you also use on other accounts.
Second, set up Apple’s two-factor authentication to add an extra security protection to your account that will keep intruders out even if they do have your current password.
Whether Turkish Crime Family is legit or full of it, you’ll have improved the security on an important and valuable account.
Finally, use a password manager for all your passwords and accounts.
Earlier on Monday, my wife let me know that “Apple Support” had called about iCloud security. She was dubious, and rightly so. “Apple” then called five more times (and counting). Suffice it to say, it wasn’t Apple, but fraudsters trying to piggyback on reports that a major breach of iCloud credentials could render hundreds of millions of accounts vulnerable.
My wife wasn’t taken in, but also didn’t immediately dismiss the call. She hung up, and then told me about it. We have Apple devices and both use iCloud, and we have regular issues with iCloud not working precisely as we expect.
Here are some of the “tells” for me that it was a fraud, and that you can teach others about:
Apple called unsolicited
We never give this number out
The message didn’t provide details
The message offered to put me through “to a support adviser right now”: This is not what Apple calls its staff, nor a likely thing for Apple to offer.
The Caller ID number didn’t say Apple on it
The Caller ID number has a shady history: The 855 number provided, when I searched on it via Google, has been used for at least a week with “Apple Support” scams.
They called back multiple times
Apple called unsolicited
We never give this number out
The message didn’t provide details
The message offered to put me through “to a support adviser right now”: This is not what Apple calls its staff, nor a likely thing for Apple to offer.
The Caller ID number didn’t say Apple on it
The Caller ID number has a shady history: The 855 number provided, when I searched on it via Google, has been used for at least a week with “Apple Support” scams.
They called back multiple times
How to protect your Apple iCloud account
Worried about hackers destroying your iCloud music, pictures, and documents? Here are three things you should do right now.
Worried about hackers destroying your iCloud music, pictures, and documents? Here are three things you should do right now.
Back up your iCloud data.
For your iPhone, iPad, or iPod, the easiest way to do this is to back up your device's files to your Mac or PC with an iTunes backup.
Change your passwords.
Turn on two-factor-authentication (2FA).
Pictures and Video:
Apple's $5 billion campus opens next month — here's what it looks like now
The complete story behind Apple's futuristic new campus, 'Apple Park’
Late Apple CEO Steve Jobs once said that the new campus was "a shot at building the best office building in the world."
This upgrade will extend the life of your MacBook Air for years
Replace the battery.
Apple claims their laptop batteries can complete 1,000 full "charge cycles" before experiencing any degradation, but if you've been using your MacBook Air regularly, you might be noticing it already.
If the only problem with your older computer is the battery, there's no reason to spend the money on a new one. Instead, you can buy a replacement battery and fix the problem yourself.
If the only problem with your older computer is the battery, there's no reason to spend the money on a new one. Instead, you can buy a replacement battery and fix the problem yourself.
Performing this upgrade will void your Applecare warranty if you have one.
AW comment:
But if your computer is old enough to need a new battery, any warranty will have expired by then anyway.
These simple upgrades can make even older computers run like new
To prove my point, I upgraded two components in a 5-year-old MacBook Pro that was running pretty sluggishly.
How to use Workflow, the app that Apple just bought and made free for everyone
Apple bought an app called Workflow. It automates stuff you do all the time on your iPhone and iPad and turns those tasks into a simple button.
But instead of killing the app, as Apple usually does when it acquires a startup, Apple made it free.
Workflow can do a lot, but you have to play with it for at least a day or two to understand its real potential. It could change the way you use your iPhone or iPad.
But instead of killing the app, as Apple usually does when it acquires a startup, Apple made it free.
Workflow can do a lot, but you have to play with it for at least a day or two to understand its real potential. It could change the way you use your iPhone or iPad.
Despite the long-term benefits Workflow will reap from Apple's acquisition, existing users have already seen features disappear. AppleInsider assesses the pros and cons of the buy.
It’s very much like Apple to give people tools everyone can use. However, what's also very much like Apple is the stripping away of features.
Apple just made a historic and risky change to all iPhones — and you probably didn't even notice
As part of the iOS 10.3 update, Apple changed a basic part of how every iPhone and iPad works — its file system, or the way the computer stores data and knows where and how to find it.
A word of warning to anyone who hasn’t already updated to iOS 10.3
If you haven’t already upgraded to iOS 10.3, be sure to back up all of your data before you do.
Reason:
Once you update your phone to iOS 10.3 and your file system is converted to APFS, you can no longer roll back without wiping your phone and reinstalling an older iOS build. Why is that significant? Because if something goes wrong and you roll back to an older build, you’ll no longer be able to recover data because everything will have been converted to APFS.
How to securely back up your iPhone or iPad to iCloud or iTunes
There are two different ways to backup your iPad or iPhone.
This article has step-by-step instructions for both ways.
It's World Backup Day! Here are the best iCloud alternatives for backing up your Mac
Here are several other businesses that provide backup services for iCloud.
Apple iOS 10.3 Is Now Available: What Is Included In This Major Update?
1) Find My AirPods
2) Wi-Fi Calling On iCloud Devices With Verizon
And several other things.
Video:
I switched from Mac to Windows and I'm never going back — here's why
The best iPad cases for every type of person
The best iPhone 7 cases for every type of person
Police use iCloud to find kidnapping, armed robbery suspects at Denny's
Suspects accused of stealing North Bay Village man's iPhone
Suspects accused of stealing North Bay Village man's iPhone
Apple quietly added a new privacy control tool in macOS Sierra 10.12.4 that allows you to opt out of sharing iCloud Analytics data. While, I’m OK with the way Apple collects such data, let me show you how to control what you send so you can decide.
The Best New Apple Watch Features In watchOS 3.2: Should You Upgrade?
like the iOS 10.3 update, this is not a quick process. I didn’t time it exactly – after all, I use my Watch to do things like that, usually – but it was well over half an hour between authorising the installation on my iPhone and the Watch returning to normal. So don’t do it when you’re about to leave the house.
And, don’t forget, the Watch needs to be charged to more than 50%, in range of your iPhone and be on its little wireless charging puck. The update is 233MB in size, so no surprise it takes a little while.
When you get your Watch back, you’ll find new features. The biggest one is Theater Mode (or Theatre as my UK English Watch kindly calls it).
How to Use Theater Mode on the Apple Watch in watchOS 3.2
The Ultimate Online Privacy Guide
The terrifying scale of the NSA’s attack on public cryptography, and its deliberate weakening of common international encryption standards, has demonstrated that no proprietary software can be trusted.
Virtual Private Networks (VPNs) and the Tor network are the most popular technologies for achieving privacy while on the internet. They hide what you get up to online from your ISP and therefore the government. They can also hide your true identity from websites you visit and services you use.
On the face of it, these two technologies appear to serve a similar purpose. In reality, they are very different beasts. While there is some overlap, their primary use-cases are very different.
Tor is a vital tool for internet users who require the maximum possible anonymity. VPNs, however, are a much more practical privacy tool for day-to-day internet use.
https://www.bestvpn.com/the-ultimate-privacy-guide/
The terrifying scale of the NSA’s attack on public cryptography, and its deliberate weakening of common international encryption standards, has demonstrated that no proprietary software can be trusted.
Virtual Private Networks (VPNs) and the Tor network are the most popular technologies for achieving privacy while on the internet. They hide what you get up to online from your ISP and therefore the government. They can also hide your true identity from websites you visit and services you use.
On the face of it, these two technologies appear to serve a similar purpose. In reality, they are very different beasts. While there is some overlap, their primary use-cases are very different.
Tor is a vital tool for internet users who require the maximum possible anonymity. VPNs, however, are a much more practical privacy tool for day-to-day internet use.
https://www.bestvpn.com/the-ultimate-privacy-guide/
Review:
Private Internet Access VPN
You should get a virtual private network (or VPN) service such as Private Internet Access. It's one of the best VPN services out there.
That said, the minimalism of Private Internet Access is sure to be a turnoff for some. Those in search of a friendlier, more informative user interface should consider fellow Editors' Choice winners KeepSolid VPN and NordVPN.
VPNs let you change your geographic location by overriding the IP address assigned by your ISP with one drawn from its pool of servers.
Perhaps more important for the average user, is that using a VPN service encrypts all online traffic and ensures that your data remains hidden from third parties when on an open wireless network. This means that the next time you're browsing the Web using the coffee shop's Wi-Fi, you might want to switch on a VPN to make sure no one else is watching.
If you're using a VPN service at your coffee shop, at the very least you won't be the lowest-hanging fruit, and that's who the average hacker is likely to target.
Regardless of the VPN you use, it will affect your Web browsing speeds. There's no way around it.
Review:
5 Best VPN Services for 2017
Review:
5 Best VPNs for Windows
Review:
5 Best VPNs for Mac
How to Delete Your Google Search History – the Definitive Guide
How Tech Is Disrupting American Society (And What We Need to Do About It)
Very interesting graphic about jobs that will be automated out of existence.
Jobs that have formed the bedrock of the American middle class for the last century have begun to disappear and will cease to exist altogether in the next 10 years.
I believe that tech is the key driver behind this disruption. And that we, the tech industry, have a critical role to play in addressing it.
Election data suggest that voters with a high level of economic anxiety voted for the disruption candidate. Specifically, counties with a relatively high proportion of “routine jobs” swung hardest for Trump. These are not necessarily places with low unemployment today, but places where people fear their jobs will go away in the future.
the reality is that off-shoring is only an intermediate step; the end-game for most of these tasks is automation. Indeed, if you visit a modern car manufacturing plant, you’ll see a sea of robots staffed by a dwindling number of people.
Trump’s win was largely due to his effectiveness at tapping into the anxiety this dislocation is creating. And I believe that this dislocation is just beginning. For example, self-driving technology is poised to eliminate many of the most common jobs in the country- truck driver, delivery driver, cab driver, Uber drivers, etc. This will happen within the next 10 years, and the dislocation and anxiety it will produce will strain our society like few things before.
Lastly, the best way to reduce economic anxiety over the long run is to build vibrant industries across the country.
https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/how-tech-disrupting-american-society-what-we-need-do-jake-saper
Britain’s Home Secretary Amber Rudd called it “unacceptable” that technology firms offered end-to-end encryption, which she said gives terrorists places to hide.
“We need to make sure organizations like WhatsApp, and there are plenty of others like that, don’t provide a secret place for terrorists to communicate with each other,” Rudd told the British Broadcasting Corp. “We need to make sure that our intelligence services have the ability to get into situations like encrypted WhatsApp.”
Tech faces public anger over internet privacy repeal
The Republican push to eliminate Obama-era consumer data protections is sparking a new national debate over online privacy, and putting internet companies on the defensive.
The measure blocking the online privacy rules is on the desk of President Trump, who is expected to sign it.
But the firestorm of controversy shows no signs of easing.
The measure blocking the online privacy rules is on the desk of President Trump, who is expected to sign it.
But the firestorm of controversy shows no signs of easing.
"We’ll definitely make it pretty clear what right was given away and the extent that it was given way," vowed Ernesto Falcon, legislative analyst at the Electronic Frontier Foundation.
Despite the public furor, for now, companies are trying to reassure the public that little will change on the privacy front.
Verizon Insists That It Isn't Going to Install Spyware on All of Its Android Phones
The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) published a report that Verizon plans to install highly-invasive spyware on its subscribers’ Android phones. Since then, Verizon has insisted that the “AppFlash” software is only a test run and has only been installed on one type of Android device.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment