After anxious days awaiting Iran's response to the US assassination of Qasem Soleimani, the country sent missiles flying at two Iraqi military that housed US troops—who knew about it well in advance, thanks to an early warning system that dates back to the Cold War. In a rare reversal from the norm, Donald Trump followed up by using Twitter to defuse tensions rather than escalate them further. Iran's still on a path to developing nuclear capabilities, but they won't get there any time soon.
As far as anyone knows, Iran hasn't countered the US directly with a cyberattack, but a new report shows that they've spent the last year probing US critical infrastructure. All of which is to say, let's hope both parties stick with deescalation.
On the home front, Amazon swatted at money-saving extension Honey just in time for the holidays, warning users that it was a security risk without specifying how. Google welcomed alleged spy app ToTok back into the Google Pay Store, while the jury's still out for Apple. And TikTok recently patched bugs that could have let attackers take over a victim's account. (No, that doesn't mean it's spying on you.)
It was an active week for Facebook; the company made its Privacy Checkup feature a wee bit more granular, acknowledged that wants apple unlock iphones again
