Tag Archives: iPhone

Posted on Author Atlantic Computer Services Categories Blog

Hackers Are Increasingly Targeting Mobile Devices

Here’s a statistic you’re not going to like.  Based on research conducted by cybersecurity researchers at Proofpoint, there has been a staggering 500 percent increase in malware attacks against mobile devices during the opening months of 2022. The most significant peak so far this year occurred at the end of February.

Most of the malware that targets mobile devices tends to be relatively benign.  It’s unlikely to encrypt all the files on your phone and demand a ransom. Although there are admittedly some malware strains that do that,  if your phone is infected with malware, it will likely be of the variety that quietly roots through your phone and steals usernames and passwords.

In some cases, you may get infected with a malware strain designed to take screenshots or track your location over time. Again, these are exceptions and not the rule. Even so, malware that steals your account information can be devastating in the longer term. Hackers can use that information to steal your identity, drain your accounts, max out your credit cards, and more.

There are three primary paths hackers use to get malware onto a target Android or iOS device.

The first and the most common is to poison an app and get it placed on either the Apple Store or the Google Play Store.  From there, users will download and install it while completely unaware that they have also installed malware.

SMS texts are another popular avenue of attack, which is why security professionals warn users against tapping links in text messages.  These may be harmless from a dear friend of yours or may have been put there by a hacker pretending to be your friend. When you tap the link, you’re taken to a poisoned website which installs malware in the background.

Finally, there’s email.  By now everyone has heard the dire warnings against clicking on links embedded in email messages or opening file attachments.  This applies whether you’re reading your mail on your phone or your PC.

The bottom line is that you are increasingly a target whether you’re on your PC or your phone.  Be careful.

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Posted on Author Atlantic Computer Services Categories Blog

iPhone Sales Edging Out Android In The US

It’s no secret that supply chain issues have impacted a variety of different industries.  Apple has been somewhat less impacted than others.

Leveraging this and their massive infrastructure and marketing budget, they have flexed their corporate muscles and gained market share.

According to statistics gathered by data analytics firm Kantar, Apple accounted for slightly more than half of all smartphone sales in the US in 2021. They claimed 51 percent of the total sales for the year which is  a 2.7 percent increase from 2020.

Apple lost ground in Australia, Japan, and Great Britain. Sales surged in Germany (up 5.6 percent to 30.9 percent of the market. Sales were also up 2.2 percent in France to 26.7 percent of the French market, up 1.3 percent in Italy to 19 percent of the market and up an impressive 9.1 percent in China, to 25.7 percent of the market.

The increase in the Chinese market alone more than made up for the losses we mentioned and the company is forecasting strong demand going forward for the iPhone 13.

Bear in mind that when looking at these figures, we’re comparing Apple’s iPhone sales to the entire Android ecosystem.  That’s how utterly dominant the company is in the smartphone market, and that’s amazing.

It gets even better for Apple because their next generation iPhone SE is generating a tremendous amount of industry buzz and excitement. It will likely allow Apple to widen their lead on the Android ecosystem.

If you’re a fan of Apple and their products, this is great news indeed.  It’s hard to believe that the company was at one time verging on bankruptcy.

Even if you’re not a fan of Apple, you must admire the company.  Their customers are more than just customers. They are diehard fans of not only the company itself, but of every product the firm makes.  Anyone in any industry would kill to have customers half as loyal as Apple’s.

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Posted on Author Atlantic Computer Services Categories Blog

Microsoft Defender Adds Cross Platform Mobile Protections

Microsoft recently announced an important upgrade to Microsoft Defender.

It now supports vulnerability management for both Android and iOS.

The company’s announcement reads in part as follows:

“With this new cross-platform coverage, threat and vulnerability management capabilities now support all major device platforms across the organization – spanning workstations, servers, and mobile devices.

Threat and vulnerability management in Microsoft Defender for Endpoint continuously monitors and identifies impacted devices, assesses associated risks in the environment, and provides intelligent prioritization and integrated workflows to seamlessly remediate vulnerabilities.”

Although the new feature was introduced with very little fanfare, this is a significant change. This will make the lives of network admins much easier by significantly decreasing the surface attack area of mobile endpoints.

This is part of Microsoft’s broader strategy to expand the security platform’s capabilities across all platforms to provide endpoint users with a unified security solution.  Previous upgrades to Microsoft Defender’s capabilities included adding support for Linux users back in 2020.

Just one month later, the company added a “Microsoft Secure Score for Devices” feature. This is a feature that that allows network security professionals to evaluate the state of security of all devices connected to the enterprise network. It also includes a “recommended actions” section to further bolster security.

Then in October 2020 the company added another new feature that automatically generated reports to assist with the tracking of vulnerable Windows and macOS devices on the network. These included vulnerability severity levels, exploit availability, vulnerability age, and vulnerable devices sorted by OS.

All these changes are superb when evaluated individually but taken together they demonstrate just how serious Microsoft is taking matters of security. They also display the company’s clear commitment to provide cross-platform protection. This is all with the understanding that networks are no longer homogenous entities and are often made up of a wide range of different device types running a variety of operating systems.

Kudos to Microsoft for their ongoing efforts to make Microsoft Defender even more valuable than it already is.

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Posted on Author Atlantic Computer Services Categories Blog

New iOS Update Provides Fix For HomeKit Brick Issue

If you have an iPhone by now you’ve almost certainly heard of the security flaw in the HomeKit protocol which allows Apple users to discover and control a wide range of Smart Devices in their home from the HomeKit dashboard. The recently discovered security flaw dubbed “DoorLock” allows an attacker to essentially brick your phone by deploying a maliciously crafted HomeKit accessory name.  The issue is being tracked as CVE-2022022588.

Apple has now addressed the issue with the release of iOS 15.2.1 and iPadOS 15.2.1. Both updates improve input validation with the result that the devices are no longer susceptible.

That’s the good news.  Trevor Spiniolas is the researcher who first discovered the flaw and he gives us the bad news. The company has known about it since August of 2021, and it has taken months for them to issue a fix for it.  During that time Apple said very little about the issue while exposing their user base to unnecessary risk.

Spinolas had this to say about the matter:

“I believe this bug is being handled inappropriately as it poses a serious risk to users and many months have passed without a comprehensive fix.  The public should be aware of this vulnerability and how to prevent it from being exploited, rather than being kept in the dark.”

We agree.  It does appear that where the DoorLock issue is concerned, Apple dropped the ball.  The company is normally much better at handling and responding to issues like these.  Here’s hoping they take Spinolas’ criticism in the spirit in which it was intended and strive to do better when the next issue inevitably rears its head.

If you own an Apple device and if you use HomeKit be sure to check your iOS or iPadOS version.  If you’re running anything prior to 15.2.1 upgrade right away to mitigate your risk.

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Posted on Author Atlantic Computer Services Categories Blog

A New iPhone Bug In HomeKit Could Brick Your Phone

Thank Trevor Spiniolas’ sharp eyes if you own an iPhone.  The independent security researcher recently discovered a critical security flaw in iOS that impacts all version from 14.7 to 15.2.

If exploited, this flaw can turn your fancy phone into a very expensive paperweight, so it’s one to take seriously.

Trevor discovered that by changing the name of a HomeKit device to a large string of characters, it would cause the iPhone to crash. In his case Trevor used a string half a million characters long for testing.

Unfortunately, there’s no easy way out if this should happen to a user because of course the new device name is backed up to the iCloud. So if the user tried to restore the iPhone it would pull the relevant information from the Cloud, hit the renamed device, and trigger the error again.

Spiniolas has publicly disclosed his findings, so Apple is aware of the issue.  Initially the company promised a fix before the end of 2021 but they’ve since come back with a revised timeframe of “early 2022.” For now, if you run afoul of this issue you don’t have many good options.

Spinolas recommends the following steps for impacted users:

  • Restore the affected device from Recovery or DFU Mode
  • Set up the device as normal but do NOT sign back into the iCloud account
  • After setup is finished, sign into iCloud from settings. Immediately after doing so disable the switch labeled “Home.” The device and iCloud should now function again without access to “Home” data.

It’s a bit of a process with more hoop jumping than many people will care for. However, the steps outlined above will get the job done and give you your phone back.  Here’s hoping Apple doesn’t hesitate in terms of the fix.

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