Web User - UK (2019-12-27)

12 27 Dec 2019 -7Jan 2020 Email us your security questions [email protected]

Q

IsApple

deliberately

tryingto track

iPhone11 users

(seestory, above)?

John Gosley,Twitter

A

It’s hardtob elieve

that Apple,with its

vastpowerand

developmentexpertise,has

donethisaccidentally.And

Appleadmitstracking

iPhone 11 users

Apple has

confirmed that

atrackingfeature

in theiPhone 11

Promonitors

your location,

even whenalllocation service

settingsareturnedoff.

Theissue involves asetof apps

and systemservices thatpersistently

seek aniPhone 11Prouser’slocation,

even wheneach serviceiss et to

‘never’requestsuchlocation

information, according tosecurity

researcher Brian Krebs. Itwas first

assumed tobeaprivacyleak or

softwareflaw,but thecompanyhas

sinceconfirmedlocation trackingin

this wayhas been implemented in

the iPhone11 Probydesign.

Apple claimsthe trackingrelates

toultra-wideband technology that

“provides spatial awareness” allowing

thespeedwithwhichithas

goneontherecordtoclaimit

doesn’tseeanynegative

securityimplicationswiththe

prac tice seemstelling.

Applesays it willletiPhone

11Prousersdisablethe

optioninafutureupdate but

whetherthisactuallystops

thetrackingwillremaina

corporatesecretknownonly

to thosebehindtheclosed

platfo rm.It’simpossibleto

tellexactlywhatAppleis

doingint hebackground,so

it’s theoreticallypossiblethat

iPhonedevicescould

continuetorecordpeople’s

locationdatasecretly.

Q

Howworried

should TikTok

users beaboutthe

appleakingtheirdata

(bit.ly/tiktok491)?

Matt Tanner,Facebook

A

Alle gationsthat

TikTokhasbeen

accumulatingdata

aboutitsusers–including

person allyidentifiab le

information–andextracting

it backtos erversinChinaare

unsurprising.Despite

TikTok’spreviousclaims

thatitwasnotsending

datatoChina,scepticism

haslongexistedamong

privacyad vocates

surr ound ingthisChinese

compan y’sdatapractices.

Thepotentialthatthe

TikTokap piss urreptit iously

collectingusercontent–

evenwhenusersdonot

publishvideostothe

platform–isextremely

concerning andrings

seriousalarm bells.Ifthese

allega tionsturnoutto be

true,TikTokispotentially

accumulatingal lkindsof

data thatitsusersbe lieve

they have ensuredwillnot

beshared.

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the iPhonetounderstand its position

relativetoother phones fittedwith the

feature.This short-rangetechnology

essentially lets iPhone 11Prousersshare

files locallywith otheriPhone 11 owners.

However,Krebs claims thatthis

behaviourundermines Apple’sown

privacypolicies. Apple saysit plans to

includeadedicatedoptiontoenable

or disable ultra-widebandtechnology

in aforthcoming iOSupdate.

bit.ly/iphone4 91

Microsoftwarns ofcomplex

new malware

Microsoft has

revealed details

of anew strain of

malwar ecalled

Dexphot, which has

been in fecting

Windows PCs sinceOctober 2018.The

‘polymorphic’malwar ehijacks system

resourcestom ine cryptocurrencyand

generaterevenue forthe attackers.

Dexphot reached itspeak inJune

2019 ,infecting almost80,0 00

computers beforegradually decreasing

overthe following months becauseof

Microsoft’sintervention.Itu ses various

sophisticatedmethods toevade

security software,includingencryption

and the useofrandomised filenames

tohide theinstallation process.

Dexphot then uses filelesstechniques

torunmalicious code directlyin aPC’s

memory andhijack legitimatesystem

processes todisguise malicious

activity.Ifnotstopped, Dexphot

ultimatelyruns acryptocurrencyminer

on theinfected device,and evades

attempts toremovethemalware.

Although up-to-datesecurity

software,includingMicrosoft’sown

Defender tool, is nowable toblock

and removeDexphot, Microsoft warns

thatsimilarlycomplexforms of

malwarethreatarelikelytobecome

morecommon.

bit.ly/dexphot4 91

Theoretically, iPhonescouldcontinueto

secretlyrecord people’slocationdata

THISISSUE’SEXPERT:

RayWalsh,Digital

Privacy Expertat

ProPrivacy

(proprivacy.com )