Hackers threaten to wipe “hundreds of millions” of iPhones, Apple says they can’t

Reuters

A bunch of hackers calling themselves the “Turkish Crime Family” had threatened to wipe “hundreds of millions” of iPhones if Apple didn’t pay them money. Apple calls their bluff.

The hacker group claimed to have access to over 300 million Apple accounts (including @icloud.com accounts), some of the group claimed 559 million accounts. They demanded that Apple give them $75,000 in Bitcoin, Ether, or $100,000 in iTunes gift cards. Apple was given until 7 April to respond.

Motherboard spoke to the hackers and could not verify their claims. While the hackers claim to have the data, they could not furnish proof of possession. The hackers also showed Motherboard screenshots of alleged conversations with Apple support staff, but since they didn’t share the actual emails, the screenshots aren’t easy to trust.

Apple refused to comment on the issue till it conducted an investigation, which concluded today. Apple’s investigations have led them to conclude that Apple accounts are perfectly safe that that hackers never actually breached them.

Fortune has learned that Apple believes that the data claimed to be from the breach came from third-party sources that may have been compromised. However, the iPhone-maker does take the opportunity to remind users to use secure passwords, two-factor authentication and to not reuse the same password.

Publish date: March 23, 2017 3:07 pm| Modified date: March 23, 2017 3:07 pm

Apple iCloud stores deleted browsing history almost indefinitely, analyst

By tech2 News Staff /  09 Feb 2017 , 15:47

If you’re in Apple’s ecosystem, you’ll need to take a bit more care when deleting your browser history. It turns out that iCloud stores all browsing history, including ‘cleared’ history dating back at least a year, and maybe even longer.

Vladimir Katalov, CEO of Elcomsoft, the maker of various hacking tools, tells Forbes that he discovered this issue when browsing the history on his own phone. Using the Phone Breaker tool developed by his company, he found that iCloud keeps a record of data, even deleted data, going back at least a year.

Apple syncs data between your Apple devices using iCloud, a remote server that syncs data between clients. Servers normally do need a log of deleted data as well to ensure that syncing happens properly, but this data is usually obfuscated to outsiders.

In this case, Katalov and other experts that Forbes consulted appear to believe that Apple simply forgot to make the necessary changes to the platform.

Speaking to a senior ACLU analyst, Forbes has discovered that while the information is available online, it’s almost impossible to access without the username and password of the person whose phone has been compromised. Essentially, law enforcements and criminals will find it almost impossible to access.

If this is indeed something that Apple simply forgot about, the fix should be quite simple.

The best way to avoid getting caught up in this whole hassle is to simply disable iCloud syncing features, particularly on Safari.

How to maximize using Siri in macOS Sierra

Image: Brandon Vigliarolo/TechRepublic


Siri on a Mac is one of those seemingly innocuous features that can change the way you work. Learn tricks for making the most of the macOS Sierra integration.

By Erik Eckel | October 13, 2016, 8:14 AM PST


When I first heard Apple was bringing Siri to the Mac, I didn't believe the enhancement would prove that useful. But, properly wielded, Siri proves to be a surprisingly helpful feature. The trick is to know Siri's desktop and laptop capabilities, as well as the feature's limitations.
Understand Siri's constraints

Don't ask Siri to close an application. She can't—she's not allowed. She'll offer a quick apology, and that's all you get. And, it makes sense—I'm confident Apple precluded the ability for fear of losing unsaved data or accidentally closing an application in the middle of a critical process.

You also shouldn't try using Siri in noisy environments because, odds are, she's not going to be able to understand your commands—and, you'll look a little strange talking in public to your computer. But when you're in the privacy of your office or another quiet location where the audio won't prove disruptive to others, Siri will pause background programming long enough to provide a fair shot at speaking commands.

I don't recommend leveraging Siri to perform complex tasks, such as editing photos, editing spreadsheets or documents, or composing presentations. It's all about possessing accurate expectations.

Follow these tips and tricks for using Siri

Several options exist for summoning Siri. By default, you can press and hold the Command and Space keys. Or, you can click the Siri icon macOS Sierra Places, by default, within the Dock. Or, you can click the Siri icon from the Mac's menu bar. You can also

How to maximize disk space using macOS Sierra's new storage management features

Freeing needed disk space is becoming easier, thanks to new macOS Sierra storage management enhancements. Learn ways to manage storage locally and in iCloud using these features.

By Erik Eckel | October 4, 2016, 9:16 AM PST

Maintaining sufficient disk free space is a long-running challenge that became more difficult when SSDs—typically possessing smaller storage allocations—arrived. Fortunately, storage management tools ease the strain.

Apple's recently released macOS Sierra operating system includes new storage optimization features that simplify managing and freeing disk space. You can access these file management and storage tools by clicking the menu bar's Apple icon, selecting About This Mac, and clicking the Storage tab to access the Manage button. The Manage button opens the new disk management utilities (Figure A).

Figure A

macOS Sierra includes disk management features to help Mac users administer file storage and free space.

macOS Sierra provides recommendations, which include storing all Desktop and Documents folders in iCloud. Clicking the Store In iCloud button prompts the operating system to store files from those locations in iCloud and keep only recently opened files on the local disk, when storage space is required. Those preferences can be modified within System Preferences, should users change their

How to Use the iCloud Control Panel to Sync Data Between Your iPhone & Windows

Despite Apple retiring the Windows version of Safari, it still offers a Windows version of the iCloud Control Panel. Using this panel, I can sync my photos, access iCloud Drive, and sync browser bookmarks with either internet Explorer, Firefox, or Chrome. You can also see at a glance how much iCloud storage space you have left.

So if you are like me, and you want a bridge between the dark murky world of Microsoft and the bright gay world of Apple, then you should take a look at how to set up iCloud for Windows.

Before We Start…

It is worth pointing out before I start that you are getting pretty much only a basic app here. In the years that I have had the iCloud Control Panel installed on my Windows PC, it barely received any updates. I get the distinct impression that, on Tim Cook’s to-do list, giving love and attention to iCloud for Windows is way down at the bottom, and totally forgotten.

But hey, as the saying goes, it’s better than a poke in the eye.

Setting It Up

First, you obviously need to get the installation file. Do the usual next, next, next, and install the program on your PC. When done, start it up.

Sign in with your Apple ID (the one you use for iCloud on your Apple devices and also for iTunes).How To Create A US iTunes Account (& Access US-Only Contents) Without A Credit Card How To Create A US iTunes Account (& Access US-Only Contents) Without A Credit CardDue to copyright issues, the iTunes Store 'discriminates' against users based on their geographical location. While the US and a few other selected iTunes stores have all the goodies, other countries are extremely limited. To...READ MORE

When signed in, it will show you an iCloud logo in your system tray, next to the clock. Click on that to get to the settings option.

When you click on the settings, it will start to show you some details of your account. As you can see, a lot of iCloud’s features are confined to the iCloud website (Mail, Contacts, Reminders, and so forth). That is what I meant about the Windows program being rather limited.

Let’s take a look at each Control Panel feature in turn.

iCloud Drive

iCloud Drive is the one thing which saves your butt when you accidentally delete all the holiday photos and you are desperately searching for a backup before the wife finds out. iCloud Drive stores copies of all the files on your iOS devices, such as iBooks, documents, images, mail, contacts, and more.How to Access iCloud Drive Files from Any Device How to Access iCloud Drive Files from Any DeviceiCloud Drive is a handy tool, but accessing your files can be a little confusing. Today we'll show you how to get file system access to iCloud Drive, whatever your operating system.READ MORE

My favorite apps, Day One and Quotebook, also sync to iCloud.

Bakari has previously shown you how to set up iCloud Drive on an iPhone. So use his guide to set it up on your phone. Then set it up here on your Windows PC to have the two talking to one another in no time at all.What Is iCloud Drive & How Does It Work? What Is iCloud Drive & How Does It Work?If you have updated your iPhone or iPad to iOS 8, and your Mac to OS X Yosemite, then you're ready for Apple's iCloud Drive. But what is it, and why should use it?READ MORE

When you set up iCloud for Windows, a new iCloud Drive folder will appear in your Windows File Explorer. Here is where you can access and upload your files.

Photos

In my opinion, Dropbox is the ultimate kick-ass app when it comes to uploading photos from your phone to your computer. But iCloud Photo Library isn’t that bad either, despite some occasional sync issues. It’s debatable which cloud service is better. Note that with iCloud, you get an extra 3 GB of space compared to Dropbox.Dropbox - One Of The Must-Have Apps If You Own An iPhone Dropbox - One Of The Must-Have Apps If You Own An iPhoneEver since I went over to the Dark Side earlier this year to get my cookies and buy an iPhone, one app has been completely invaluable to me - Dropbox. In fact, I would go...READ MORE

When you choose to sync your photos with iCloud, all of the photos you make on your iOS devices will be synced to your Windows or Mac device. Obviously, it also works in the other direction, i.e. uploading from a computer to iCloud Photo Library.

You also get an iCloud Photos folder installed on your computer. You can easily view your iOS photos and shared albums, as well as easily upload back to your devices.

You can decide whether or not you want any new photos and videos downloaded to your PC. In that case you would need to review the amount of hard drive space you have. Enabling Photo Sharingwill allow you to make shared photo albums, which can be then be shown to other users.5 Things You Need To Know About iCloud Photo Library 5 Things You Need To Know About iCloud Photo LibraryHere's what you need to know about iCloud Photo Library, how it works and what it will cost you.READ MORE

Bookmarks

When I made this screenshot, it said that Chrome wasn’t installed. I thought this meant that the actual browser wasn’t installed, which was weird because I was using Chrome!

But then I have realized it meant that I don’t have the Chrome extension installed, which syncs Chrome bookmarks with iOS Safari. When I looked for the Firefox equivalent, it seems that it is on the blocklist due to frequent crashing!

Unless you are a big Safari user on iOS devices, and you absolutely need to have your internet Explorer or Chrome bookmarks synced, I would leave this one disabled. It seems to me to be more trouble than it’s worth. That’s just my opinion. Feel free to ignore me if you want.

Storage

Every Apple account gets 5 GB of free storage. For some that may be enough, but for a measly $1 a month, you can get a whopping 50 GB of space a month. You may not always need the entire 50 GB, but at least it stops your iOS device telling you all the time that “you are approaching your 5 GB limit and you should upgrade”. That can get rather irritating after a while. The peace and quiet alone is worth the dollar.

On the Windows Control Panel, you can see what is taking up the storage space and how much space it is gobbling. However, in this section, you cannot view the actual files, only mass-delete the files to reclaim the space. To see the actual files, you would need to go to your iCloud folder in Windows Explorer.

But this section is nice because you can get an immediate overview of what you have and how much space it is using.

Your iCloud in Action

As things start to upload, download, jiggle, and juggle, you will see your iCloud window start to update.

As I said at the beginning, iCloud for Windows is no great shakes. It is OK for getting your stuff on and off your iOS devices, as well as keeping a continual overview on your iCloud storage usage. However, I hope that Apple starts to show this program some more love sometime very soon.