Apple today released iOS 16.5.1, iPadOS 16.5.1, macOS 13.4.1, and watchOS 9.5.2 updates, with the software adding security improvements. If you haven't updated yet, you should as soon as you can as these updates address actively exploited vulnerabilities. According to Apple's security support document, there are fixes for two vulnerabilities that may have been used by hackers and bad actors for system attacks. A kernel vulnerability that can result in arbitrary code execution with kernel privileges was addressed with improved input validation for an integer overflow. Apple says that it is aware of a report that this issue may have been actively exploited against versions of iOS released before iOS 15.7, so you are likely safe if you've been running…

Macworld Do Macs get viruses? Do Macs need antivirus software? The answers to these questions aren’t as simple as they might seem. In this article, we look at the dangers faced by Mac users, and the pros and cons of using Mac antivirus software. Historically, the Mac has been considered safe and secure for a number of reasons that we will go into below, but in recent years the consensus has fluctuated. In its 2020 State of Malware report, Malwarebytes said it saw “a significant rise in the overall prevalence of Mac threats in 2019, with an increase of over 400 percent from 2018.” The following year, the company found that overall malware detected on macOS decreased by 38 percent…

Macworld Do Macs get viruses? Do Macs need antivirus software? The answers to these questions aren’t as simple as they might seem. In this article, we look at the dangers faced by Mac users, and the pros and cons of using Mac antivirus software. Historically, the Mac has been considered safe and secure for a number of reasons that we will go into below, but in recent years the consensus has fluctuated. In its 2020 State of Malware report, Malwarebytes said it saw “a significant rise in the overall prevalence of Mac threats in 2019, with an increase of over 400 percent from 2018.” The following year, the company found that overall malware detected on macOS decreased by 38 percent…

Illustration by Samar Haddad for The Verge As connected becomes the default for every household appliance — from TVs and washing machines to ovens and vacuums — we break down exactly what makes a home ‘smart’ and help you decide if it’s the right fit for you. I find the simplest way to explain the concept of a smart home is that it’s a natural evolution of our homes. A smart home isn’t fundamentally different from a “regular” home — it’s just the improvement of one. In the same way that electricity made our homes better and more functional, so is connectivity improving the way we live in and use our homes. I’ve lived in a smart home for a…

Illustration by Samar Haddad for The Verge As connected becomes the default for every household appliance — from TVs and washing machines to ovens and vacuums — we break down exactly what makes a home ‘smart’ and help you decide if it’s the right fit for you. I find the simplest way to explain the concept of a smart home is that it’s a natural evolution of our homes. A smart home isn’t fundamentally different from a “regular” home — it’s just the improvement of one. In the same way that electricity made our homes better and more functional, so is connectivity improving the way we live in and use our homes. I’ve lived in a smart home for a…

Antivirus provider Kaspersky has discovered a malware campaign targeting iPhones running up to iOS 15.7 via iMessage. Importantly, this zero-click/tap malware can be found and blocked. Kaspersky: ince it is impossible to inspect modern iOS devices from the inside, we created offline backups of the devices in question, inspected them using the Mobile Verification Toolkit’s mvt-ios and discovered traces of compromise. We are calling this campaign “Operation Triangulation”, and all the related information we have on it will be collected on the Operation Triangulation page. This allowed [us] to move the research forward, and to reconstruct the general infection sequence: • The target iOS device receives a message via the iMessage service, with an attachment containing an exploit. • Without any user…