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Tag: HTTPS

  • Apple releases macOS 15.2 Sequoia update

    Apple releases macOS 15.2 Sequoia update

    Apple’s long-awaited macOS 15.2 Sequoia update landed yesterday, and if you have a Mac featuring an M-series chip, you’re good to go to run it.

    Here are the new fixes and changes found in the update:

    Image Playground:

    • A new app that lets you use concepts, descriptions, and people from your photo library to create fun, playful images in multiple styles
    • Swipe through previews and choose from as you add concepts to your playground
    • Choose from animation and illustration styles when creating your image
    • Create images in Messages and Freeform, as well as third party apps
    • Images are synced in your Image Playground library across all your devices with iCloud

    ChatGPT support:

    • ChatGPT from OpenAI can be accessed right from Siri or Writing Tools
    • Compose in Writing Tools allows you to create something from scratch with ChatGPT
    • Siri can tap into ChatGPT when relevant to provide you an answer
    • A ChatGPT account is not required and your requests will be anonymous and won’t be used to train OpenAI’s models
    • Sign in with ChatGPT to access your account benefits, and requests will be covered by OpenAI’s data policies

    Additional Apple Intelligence features:

    • Describe your change in Writing Tools allows you to suggest how you’d like something rewritten, for example as a poem

    All the rest of macOS 15.2’s new features:

    Photos:

    • Favorites album appears in the Utilities collection in addition to Pinned Collections
    • Recently Viewed and Recently Shared album history can be cleared

    Safari:

    • New background images to customize your Safari Start Page
    • HTTPS upgrade tries to use secure HTTPS on all websites
    • Simplified import and export for history, bookmarks, and passwords

    This update also includes the following improvements and bug fixes:

    • Share Item Location in Find My helps you locate and recover misplaced items by easily and securely sharing the location of an AirTag or Find My network accessory with trusted third parties, such as airlines
    • Natural language search in Apple Music and Apple TV app lets you describe what you’re looking for using any combination of categories like genres, moods, actors, decades, and more
    • Favorite Categories in Podcasts allows you to choose your favorite categories and get relevant show recommendations that you can easily access in your Library
    • Personalized Search page in Podcasts highlights the most relevant categories and editorially curated collections tailored to you
    • Sudoku for News+ Puzzles provided in three difficulty levels and available for News+ subscribers
    • Presenter preview lets you choose what to share — an app or your whole screen — before you share it when connecting to an external display or using AirPlay
    • Pre-market price quotes in Stocks lets you track NASDAQ and NYSE tickers prior to market open
    • Weather in menu bar allows you to get current weather conditions from the menu bar on your Mac and click through to quickly access detailed forecasts

    What’s not included yet:

    • Genmoji iOS 18.2
    • Mail app redesign

    As always, the update can be located, downloaded, and installed by going to System Settings > General > Software Update. If you’ve had a chance to try the macOS 15.2 Sequoia update, please let us know about your experience in the comments.

    Via 9to5Mac

  • Apple, Google, Mozilla block spying Kazakhstan root certificate in web browsers

    Apple, Google, and Mozilla have begun blocking a Kazakhstan-based government-issued root certificate embedded in its websites.

    The root certificate attempts to spy on citizens and works to gain access to web browsers via its credentials.

    Per The Hacker News:

    “The root certificate in question, labeled as ‘trusted certificate’ or ‘national security certificate,’ if installed, allows ISPs to intercept, monitor, and decrypt users’ encrypted HTTPS and TLS connections, helping the government spy on its 18 million people and censor content.

    Once installed, the certificate allowed the Kazakh government to decrypt and read anything a user visiting popular sites—Facebook, Twitter, and Google, among others—types or posts, including intercepting their account information and passwords.”

    As always, make sure to update your web browsers of choice and we’ll work to keep you informed as to any changes that evolve with this story.

    Via The Mac Observer and The Hacker News

  • iOS 12.2 beta 1 released to developer community, shows forthcoming features

    Apple on Thursday released the first beta of iOS 12.2 for developers, complete with the following list of new fixes and features:

    – Apple News for Canada – iOS 12.2 expands the availability of Apple News to Canada for the first time, with news sources available in either English or French.

    – HomeKit TV Support – Apple recently announced that HomeKit support is coming to a number of third-party TVs, and iOS 12.2 introduces the infrastructure to allow users to add their TVs to HomeKit.

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  • DOK malware surfaces for macOS platform, sneaks past Gatekeeper protection with valid Apple developer account

    In the age of Macs becoming more popular again, the amount of malware available for the macOS is on the rise.

    According to the McAfee Labs, malware attacks on Apple’s Mac computers were up 744% in 2016, and its researchers have discovered nearly 460,000 Mac malware samples, which is still just a small part of overall Mac malware out in the wild.

    The Malware Research team at CheckPoint has located a new piece of fully-undetectable Mac malware which apparently affects all versions of Mac OS X, has zero detections on VirusTotal and is “signed with a valid developer certificate (authenticated by Apple).”

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  • Apple clears through almost 350 security vulnerabilities with of iOS, macOS, watchOS and tvOS updates

    Apple cleaned house via a slew of operating system updates on Monday, pinning down nearly 350 known vulnerabilities between its changes to iOS, macOS, watchOS and tvOS.

    Starting with iOS 10.3, Apple’s latest version includes Find My AirPods, Apple’s new file system, CarPlay, and a few other small visual tweaks. With nearly every update Apple does, they also include a handful of security fixes that easily go unnoticed by the user. iOS 10.3 is no exception with over 85 different common vulnerabilities and exposures (CVEs) listed.

    In one case, the iOS 10.3 update patched a security hole that allowed attackers to spam Safari with a ‘Cannot Open Page’ dialog. Lookout, a cybersecurity company, learned of the attack after one of their users complained of losing control over their browsing experience. The dialog was meant to trick users into eventually paying money to “unlock” their Safari browser.

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