It's been a busy week. There's a lot to catch up on. But before you continue reading, please take a minute to make sure you've updated your iPhone to iOS 14.5. And once you have, use its new AppTrackingTransparency feature to tell Facebook and other companies to stop following your activity across other apps and websites. In fact, they all now have to give you the option, like it or not. When they do? Opt out.
That wasn't the only significant Apple update this week. On Monday the company also pushed out a patch for a macOS vulnerability that hackers had been actively exploiting to spread adware to Macs. The underlying flaw wasn't in macOS security safeguards, but rather in the logic of the operating system itself, and it would have let nearly any software sneak through. Security researchers also pointed out how Apple's handy AirDrop feature leaks email addresses and phone numbers—but no fix is in sight for that one yet.
VPN hacks have increasingly threatened corporations in recent years, especially as more of the workforce has gone remote. The issue has come to a head, with flaws in Pulse Secure VPN leading to hacks of government agencies, financial institutions, and more high-value targets, likely by several state-sponsored Chinese groups. It's still not as bad a situation as ransomware, which a new coalition hopes to tackle through a good old-fashioned public-private partnership. Which, well, good luck!
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