{"id":26495,"date":"2022-07-24T08:47:28","date_gmt":"2022-07-24T15:47:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.podfeet.com\/blog\/?p=26495"},"modified":"2022-07-31T09:10:58","modified_gmt":"2022-07-31T16:10:58","slug":"security-bits-24-july-2022","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.podfeet.com\/blog\/2022\/07\/security-bits-24-july-2022\/","title":{"rendered":"Security Bits \u2014 24 July 2022"},"content":{"rendered":"<h2>Feedback &amp; Followups<\/h2>\n<aside class=\"small-aside\">Listener and community feedback, developments in recently covered stories, and developments in long-running stories we&#8217;re tracking over time.<\/aside>\n<ul>\n<li>&#x1f1f7;&#x1f1fa; Russia&#8217;s hostility towards western companies continues as it adds Apple to the list of companies it&#8217;s fining for not storing Russian citizens data in Russia (Twitch, Pinterest, Airbnb, UPS &amp; Google had already been fined) \u2014 <a href=\"https:\/\/www.macobserver.com\/news\/apple-receives-fine-from-russia-over-alleged-icloud-storage-violation\/\">www.macobserver.com\/\u2026<\/a>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Related:<\/strong> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.macobserver.com\/news\/russia-set-to-fine-apple-for-app-store-policys-violation-of-antitrust-laws\/\">Russia Set to Fine Apple for App Store Policy\u2019s Violation of Antitrust Laws \u2014 www.macobserver.com\/\u2026<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li>&#x1f1fa;&#x1f1f8; In the previous instalment we talked about some poor legislative proposals from US law makers in response to the overturning of Roe -v- Wade, this time it&#8217;s a very positive proposal: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.engadget.com\/us-congress-wants-the-ftc-to-regulate-the-vpn-industry-074102207.html?src=rss\">US Congress calls for the FTC to regulate how VPN companies operate \u2014 www.engadget.com\/\u2026<\/a><\/li>\n<li>&#x1f1f9;&#x1f1ed; It&#8217;s come to light that the NSO group&#8217;s Pegasus spyware was used to hack the phones of 30 pro democracy protestors in Thailand in 2000\/2001 \u2014 <a href=\"https:\/\/www.macobserver.com\/news\/pegasus-spyware-targets-pro-democracy-protestors-in-thailand\/\">www.macobserver.com\/\u2026<\/a><\/li>\n<li>Security researchers continue to hack AirTags, now having found a way to use spurious voltages to trip the debugging port into activating, allowing them to install custom firmware which could silence the device&#8217;s warning beeps and even clone the device \u2014 <a href=\"https:\/\/www.macobserver.com\/news\/researchers-discover-way-to-clone-reprogram-apple-airtag\/\">www.macobserver.com\/\u2026<\/a> (<strong>Editorial by Bart:<\/strong> Bear in mind that it would be much easier for a malicious actor to simply buy a stealthy tracker on Amazon.com!)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>Deep Dive(s)<\/h2>\n<h2>&#x2757; Action Alerts<\/h2>\n<aside class=\"small-aside\">Calls to action, if any stories in this section are relevant to you there is some action you should take.<\/aside>\n<ul>\n<li>July 12th was Patch Tuesday, and Microsoft patched 86 vulnerabilities, including one in all versions of Windows being actively exploited in the wild. Adobe also patched Acrobat, Reader, Photoshop, and more \u2014 <a href=\"https:\/\/krebsonsecurity.com\/2022\/07\/microsoft-patch-tuesday-july-2022-edition\/\">krebsonsecurity.com\/\u2026<\/a><\/li>\n<li>Apple patched just about everything on the 20th of July: <a href=\"https:\/\/tidbits.com\/2022\/07\/20\/ios-15-6-ipados-15-6-macos-12-5-monterey-watchos-8-7-tvos-15-6-and-homepod-software-15-6\/\">iOS 15.6, iPadOS 15.6, macOS 12.5 Monterey, watchOS 8.7, tvOS 15.6, and HomePod Software 15.6 \u2014 tidbits.com\/\u2026<\/a>\n<ul>\n<li>Followed 2 days later with patches for older OSes: <a href=\"https:\/\/tidbits.com\/watchlist\/macos-big-sur-11-6-8-and-security-update-2022-005-catalina\/\">macOS Big Sur 11.6.8 and Security Update 2022-005 Catalina \u2014 tidbits.com\/\u2026<\/a> &amp; <a href=\"https:\/\/tidbits.com\/watchlist\/safari-15-6\/\">Safari 15.6 \u2014 tidbits.com\/\u2026<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/nakedsecurity.sophos.com\/2022\/07\/21\/apple-patches-0-day-browser-bug-fixed-2-weeks-ago-in-chrome-edge\/\">Apple patches \u201c0-day\u201d browser bug fixed 2 weeks ago in Chrome, Edge \u2014 nakedsecurity.sophos.com\/\u2026<\/a><\/li>\n<li>&#x1f1fa;&#x1f1f8; <strong>Related:<\/strong> iOS 15.6 adds a toggle to opt-out of US government test alerts \u2014 <a href=\"https:\/\/www.macobserver.com\/news\/apple-adds-test-alerts-toggle-to-iphone-in-case-you-really-want-more-annoying-blasts-of-sound\/\">www.macobserver.com\/\u2026<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>Worthy Warnings<\/h2>\n<aside class=\"small-aside\">Potentially relevant warnings from government organisations, public interest groups, or the security community.<\/aside>\n<ul>\n<li>Earlier this year Twitter patched a vulnerability that allowed attackers to get the phone numbers and email addresses associated with accounts. The bug was quickly patched, but we didn&#8217;t know how much data has been stolen before the patch was applied \u2013 now we know that a collection of at least 4.5 million records is for sale on the dark web. There&#8217;s no way to know if you&#8217;re in the DB, so <strong>all Twitter users need to be wary of targeted phishing attacks<\/strong> \u2014 <a href=\"https:\/\/www.macobserver.com\/news\/hacker-selling-database-after-twitter-vulnerability-exposes-private-data-for-millions-of-users\/\">www.macobserver.com\/\u2026<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>Notable News<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>Facebook have changed their URL scheme so as to replace human-readable tracking IDs in URLs with encrypted blobs, preventing privacy-conscious browsers from stripping the tracking IDs from links shared on social media etc. \u2014 <a href=\"https:\/\/tidbits.com\/2022\/07\/19\/facebook-change-ensures-tracking-by-preventing-url-stripping\/\">tidbits.com\/\u2026<\/a> (<strong>Editorial by Bart:<\/strong> this was unfortunately to be expected as more and more browsers started to strip tracking IDs out of URLs)<\/li>\n<li>Having briefly reversed the rollout, Microsoft have moved forward for once and for all with the change to block VBA macros by default on documents downloaded from the web \u2014 <a href=\"https:\/\/nakedsecurity.sophos.com\/2022\/07\/23\/office-macro-security-on-again-off-again-feature-now-back-on-again\/\">nakedsecurity.sophos.com\/\u2026<\/a><\/li>\n<li>Google have taken ChromeOSFlex out of bata with its first stable release, providing a mechanism to securely re-use old hardware no longer supported by supported versions of Windows or macOS \u2014 <a href=\"https:\/\/www.macobserver.com\/news\/google-chromeos-flex-can-turn-your-old-mac-into-a-chromebook\/\">www.macobserver.com\/\u2026<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>Top Tips<\/h2>\n<aside class=\"small-aside\">Tip, tricks, or advice that is likely to be useful to the NosillaCast audience or the family members and friends whose IT they support.<\/aside>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/nakedsecurity.sophos.com\/2022\/07\/15\/7-cybersecurity-tips-for-your-summer-vacation\/\">7 cybersecurity tips for your summer vacation! \u2014 nakedsecurity.sophos.com\/\u2026<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>Excellent Explainers<\/h2>\n<aside class=\"small-aside\">High-quality content explaining a security concept of some kind.<\/aside>\n<ul>\n<li><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>Interesting Insights<\/h2>\n<aside class=\"small-aside\">High-quality opinion and editorial content recommended by Bart.<\/aside>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/krebsonsecurity.com\/2022\/07\/massive-losses-define-epidemic-of-pig-butchering\/\">Massive Losses Define Epidemic of \u2018Pig Butchering\u2019 \u2014 krebsonsecurity.com\/\u2026<\/a> (Long-running romance scams leading to crypto cons)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>Just Because it&#8217;s Cool &#x1f60e;<\/h2>\n<aside class=\"small-aside\">Stories that are not important, that don&#8217;t require you to do anything, and that you don&#8217;t even have to worry about.<\/aside>\n<ul>\n<li><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>Palate Cleansers<\/h2>\n<aside class=\"small-aside\">Anything up-beat and nerdy Bart and\/or Allison think you might enjoy.<\/aside>\n<ul>\n<li>The JWST is up and running, and the early images are stunning!\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/apod.nasa.gov\/apod\/ap220713.html\">Webb&#8217;s First Deep Field \u2014 apod.nasa.gov\/\u2026<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/apod.nasa.gov\/apod\/ap220714.html\">Webb&#8217;s Southern Ring Nebula \u2014 apod.nasa.gov\/\u2026<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/apod.nasa.gov\/apod\/ap220718.html\">Stephan&#8217;s Quintet from Webb, Hubble, and Subaru \u2014 apod.nasa.gov\/\u2026<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/apod.nasa.gov\/apod\/ap220720.html\">Jupiter and Ring in Infrared from Webb \u2014 apod.nasa.gov\/\u2026<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li>XKCD&#8217;s celebration: <a href=\"https:\/\/xkcd.com\/2645\/\">xkcd.com\/\u2026<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>Legend<\/h2>\n<p>When the textual description of a link is part of the link it is the title of the page being linked to, when the text describing a link is not part of the link it is a description written by <a href=\"https:\/\/bartb.ie\/\">Bart<\/a>.<\/p>\n<table>\n<thead>\n<tr>\n<th align=\"center\">Emoji<\/th>\n<th align=\"left\">Meaning<\/th>\n<\/tr>\n<\/thead>\n<tbody>\n<tr>\n<td align=\"center\">&#x1f3a7;<\/td>\n<td align=\"left\">A link to <strong>audio content<\/strong>, probably a podcast.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td align=\"center\">&#x2757;<\/td>\n<td align=\"left\">A <strong>call to action<\/strong>.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td align=\"center\"><em>flag<\/em><\/td>\n<td align=\"left\">The story is particularly relevant to people living in a <strong>specific country<\/strong>, or, the organisation the story is about is affiliated with the government of a specific country.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td align=\"center\">&#x1f4ca;<\/td>\n<td align=\"left\">A link to <strong>graphical content<\/strong>, probably a chart, graph, or diagram.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td align=\"center\">&#x1f9ef;<\/td>\n<td align=\"left\">A story that has been <strong>over-hyped<\/strong> in the media, or, <em>&#8220;no need to light your hair on fire&#8221;<\/em> &#x1f642;<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td align=\"center\">&#x1f4b5;<\/td>\n<td align=\"left\">A link to an article behind a <strong>paywall<\/strong>.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td align=\"center\">&#x1f4cc;<\/td>\n<td align=\"left\">A <strong>pinned<\/strong> story, i.e. one to keep an eye on that&#8217;s likely to develop into something significant in the future.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td align=\"center\">&#x1f3a9;<\/td>\n<td align=\"left\">A <strong><em>tip of the hat<\/em><\/strong> to thank a member of the community for bringing the story to our attention.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Feedback &amp; Followups Listener and community feedback, developments in recently covered stories, and developments in long-running stories we&#8217;re tracking over time. &#x1f1f7;&#x1f1fa; Russia&#8217;s hostility towards western companies continues as it adds Apple to the list of companies it&#8217;s fining for not storing Russian citizens data in Russia (Twitch, Pinterest, Airbnb, UPS &amp; Google had already [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":19030,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[147,214],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-26495","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-blog-posts","category-security-bits"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.podfeet.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/security_bits_logo_400px_no_alpha.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.podfeet.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26495","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.podfeet.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.podfeet.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.podfeet.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.podfeet.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=26495"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.podfeet.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26495\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":26496,"href":"https:\/\/www.podfeet.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26495\/revisions\/26496"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.podfeet.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/19030"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.podfeet.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=26495"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.podfeet.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=26495"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.podfeet.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=26495"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}