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The Come-Together Edition Tuesday, February 22, 2022

AirTags Are Linked To Stalking, And Apple Can't Solve This Problem Alone, by Lisa Eadicicco, CNET

Experts I spoke with say it's incumbent on tech companies to come together and find better ways to prevent Bluetooth trackers from compromising personal privacy. That includes not just Apple, but also Samsung, Tile and other companies making similar products with fewer safeguards. They could start by providing information to each other and to the public about how Bluetooth trackers are being exploited. Sharing findings on how their respective products are being used maliciously is critical for creating privacy protections that work equally well across all smartphones. It would ensure that all companies are operating on the same data when developing tools for preventing or mitigating abuse.

Find You: Building A Stealth AirTag Clone, by Fabian Bräunlein, Positive Security

The following section will discuss each anti-stalking feature and how it can be bypassed in theory. Thereafter I will describe how I implemented those ideas to build a stealth AirTag and successfully tracked an iPhone user (with their consent of course) for over 5 days without triggering a tracking notification.

The goal of this blog post is to raise awareness of these issues to hopefully also guide future changes. In particular, Apple needs to incorporate non-genuine AirTags into their threat model, thus implementing security and anti-stalking features into the Find My protocol and ecosystem instead of in the AirTag itself, which can run modified firmware or not be an AirTag at all (Apple devices currently have no way to distinguish genuine AirTags from clones via Bluetooth).

Stuff

How iPhone And Apple Watch Can Help Protect You From Hearing Loss, by Michael Potuck, 9to5Mac

iPhone and Apple Watch include a wide range of valuable health features and a couple of them that don’t get much attention include measuring ambient and headphone noise levels. Read along for a look at how to protect from hearing loss by checking decibel levels on iPhone and Apple Watch.

12 (Additional) Desktop Tips To Get More From Your Mac, by Jonny Evans, Computerworld

It's easy to be more productive using a Mac — as long as you know how to navigate across multiple windows and apps. Here's a collection of a dozen ways you can get get work done more effectively.

The Best Note Taking Apps For Mac, by Bryan Clark, Laptop

If you’re looking for the best note taking apps for Mac, look no further. Note-taking is a mundane part of life; it can be easy to take-for-granted all the tools that make the task less painful. However, if the tools are chosen incorrectly, note-taking can be an aggravating experience.

Notes

Popular 'Authenticator' App For iOS Facing Copycats, As App Store Review Complaints Continue, by José Adorno, 9to5Mac

Another day, another complaint about the App Store review process. This time, 2FA app Authenticator by 2Stable is facing copycats from multiple scammers. Not only the app is being copied, but scammers are charging subscriptions up to $335/year if you forget to cancel the weekly in-app purchases, raising questions about Apple’s long-flawed App Store review process.

Bottom of the Page

Apple, please try harder to justify the thirty-percent.

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Thanks for reading.