Web User - UK (2019-09-18)

What we think of this fortnight’s top tech news stories and rumours,

and how they affect you

Discussweb news atwww.facebook.com/webusermagazine 18 Sept - 1 Oct 2019^9

Need to Know

Cr

ed

it:

Ch

ec

k

Po

int

Android

app,

too.

Now,

you can

listen to

the

service

even if

you’re

not

using a

mobile device, although for

the ti me being you’ll still

needto register via an app,

so ask afriend for help if you

don’t have a smartphone.

If you’re already a

subscriber, you’ll now be able

to play your tunes on your PC

or laptop of choice, rather

than belimited to your

smartphone. Apple Music

costs £9.99 amonth for a

confusing, don’t click Accept

until you’ve contacted

customer services. It’s worth

remembering that such

research finds flaws in order

to fix them, and doesn’t

necessarily mean any hackers

are using this particular

technique.

Apple Music launches on the web

Android hit by text-message security flaw

singlesubscription, or

£14.99 for a family deal

with support for six people.

What dowethink?

One of the great things

about the web and

browsers is that they’re

interoperable: websites can

be read on a Mac or a

Windowslaptop, on an

Androidphone or an

iPhone, andeverythingin

between. Rather than

locking downthe streaming

service, Apple is opening it

up for anyone to use, which

isn’t the way the company

normally operates but is a

welcome development.

Handily, it also brings

Apple Music in line with its

biggestrival, Spotify, which

also has aweb version.

What dowethink?

This may sound like a

niche flaw, but it

serves to highlight the

many different ways

hackers can targetus.

While most attacks will

still comevia the usual

routes, such as dodgy

emails, there are

myriad wayswe’re at

risk online andon

mobile devices. There’s

no cause for panic

because most attacks

can be avoided with a

bit of common sense –if

something doesn’t feel

right, it probably isn’t.

Don’t be afraid to ask a

friend or family member

for help or to call customer

support at your network

provider – that’s what

they’re there for, after all.

What happened?

Forgetinstalling bloated

iTunessoftwareor the

Apple Music app – anew

web interface for the

streaming service means

you can play your favourite

tracksdirectly in your web

browser.

If you already use Apple

Music, the website will look

familiar because it’s

structured in a similar way

to the app. The web

version of Apple Music is

availableatbeta.music

.apple.comandas its URL

suggests, it remains in

beta, so somefeaturesare

currently missing. While

you can access the full

streaming music catalogue,

someApple-only content

such as certain music

What happened?

The Androidmobile

platformhas been hit by

another security flawthat

could affect up to a billion

phones. Researchers at

cybersecurity firmCheck

Point (www.checkpoint

.com) spotted a

vulnerability that allows

smartphones to be hacked

with asingletext message.

It takes advantage of

network settings to

pretendto be anoperator,

andsends adodgy text to

a target. If the victim

accepts the new settings,

their internet activity could

be viewed by the attacker.

How will it affectyou?

The researchers said that

Samsungphones were

particularly atrisk fromthis

videos andthe Beats 1 radio

station aren’t yet available.

Such featuresare expected

to arrive eventually, though

it’s not clear when the web

version of Apple Music will

come out of beta.

How will it affectyou?

Apple Music isn’t limited to

iPhone and iPadusers – it’s

already available asan

attack because

they don’t

require operator

messagesto

undergo checks

for authenticity.

While other

phones do

authenticate,

there are still

waysaroundthe

checks, the

researchers said.

This

vulnerability is

serious, but it’s one for

Androidandphone

manufacturers to solve –

indeed, SamsungandLG

have already rolled out

patches, while Huawei says

one is in the works.

If you receive atext

purporting to be fromyour

operator that you find