Only required if you have data worth protecting. If you don’t, just delete your data.
https://www.makeuseof.com/why-does-apple-need-you-to-update-your-device-immediately/
Why Does Apple Need You to Update Your Device Immediately?
Go and update your Apple devices, right now.
That's the message from Apple, delivered to its vast userbase on September 13, 2021. So if you haven't already, you really should go and update your iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch, or Mac computer, as Apple isn't messing around with this one.
Israel's NSO Group is exploiting what's known as the Holy Grail of remote surveillance, a "zero-click remote exploit," allowing their Pegasus spyware to infect devices without any interaction.
… In short, those with a license to use Pegasus could infect Apple devices without alerting the user, tracking texts, calls, emails, camera, microphone, and more, without requiring any user interaction.
Today a city, tomorrow the world! Note that recovery from backups is not instantaneous.
City of Yonkers Hacked, No Computers for the Past Week: Ransom Demanded, City Hall Says No
This was published on September 10 by Yonkers Times:
Yonkers Rising has learned that the City of Yonkers has been the victim of a ransomware attack and for the period of the past five days, City Hall and its employees have been without their computers. We have also been told by city officials with knowledge of the situation, that Yonkers will NOT pay a requested ransom to unlock their computer servers, and instead has spent the past week trying to upload as much data as possible from their backups.
Read more on Yonkers Times.
They could, but why would they want to?
Russia is fully capable of shutting down cybercrime
It is no secret the locus for a great deal of the world’s cybercriminal activity lays within the boundaries of The Russian Federation. The onslaught of ransomware attacks directed at non-Russian entities is evidence of that.
Last week, Recorded Future’s Insikt Group published a report shedding more light on the connection between the Russian state and criminal actors, a connection that Insikt Group posits is “well established yet highly diffused.”
Because we assume everyone is dishonest?
Biden wants IRS to snoop into your bank account, know when you have $600 or more
Rebecca Long reports:
Outraged citizens and banks alike want to know why President Joe Biden plans to allow the IRS to snoop into bank accounts, Venmo, PayPal, and crypto transactions, among other types of payment processing accounts.
The White House, said, “This type of surveillance is needed to prevent tax evasion.”
Biden plans to use any money that is confiscated during IRS audits to fund his proposed plan for the Democrats’ $3.5 trillion budget plan.
If passed, banks would be required to report every deposit and withdrawal from an account to the IRS in order to target audits.
Read more on Ocala Post.
h/t, FourthAmendment.com, who comments on whether this would violate the Fourth Amendment, as some bankers claim (spoiler alert: he says it wouldn’t).
I didn’t realize this was a thing. Any website owner would like to know what users find useful and what they ignore. Tracking clicks is one measure.
Should you get paid when websites record your mouse clicks? Here’s what a judge said
Ron Hurtibise reports:
It looks like Florida internet users won’t be getting paid for visiting commercial websites that track their mouse clicks and keystrokes.
Activity tracking software used by wholesale club Costco did not violate a state law barring wiretapping because it doesn’t intercept any “content,” a federal judge in Fort Lauderdale has ruled. Similar lawsuits against owners of other merchant websites have been slapped down as well in recent months.
Read more on SunSentinel
Perspective. Read and consider…
Completing the Journey from BYOD to a Hybrid WFA Workforce
While the recent transition to a work-from-anywhere (WFA) business model may have been sudden, it certainly shouldn’t have caught anyone off guard. Organizations have been moving in this direction for a long time, starting with the advent of BYOD more than a decade ago. This was followed by roaming technologies that allowed mobile devices to move seamlessly across campus and even handoff an open session to a 3G/4G or WiFi connection when a user that is on a call or using an application moves off-network. Applications began moving to the cloud to further support remote and mobile workers, followed by SD-WAN and SASE technologies to further enhance remote connectivity.
What did catch everyone off-guard was the speed and scale at which the transition took place. While the trend towards remote and mobile work was clearly on track, the pandemic shortened the development cycle by several years. Organizations went from 20,000 employees in 5 offices to 20,000 employees in 20,000 offices almost overnight. IT teams worldwide had to scramble to ensure that every worker had access to essential applications and resources from a remote location, which was usually their home office. And that’s where the trouble began.
Choose your fights. Avoid precedent setting losses.
https://www.nytimes.com/live/2021/09/13/us/political-news#fec-twitter-hunter-biden-article
Under G.O.P. pressure, tech giants are empowered by an election agency
When Twitter decided briefly last fall to block users from posting links to an article about Joseph R. Biden Jr.’s son Hunter, it prompted a conservative outcry that Big Tech was improperly aiding Mr. Biden’s presidential campaign.
… The Republican National Committee filed a formal complaint with the Federal Election Commission accusing Twitter of “using its corporate resources” to benefit the Biden campaign.
Now the commission, which oversees election laws, has dismissed those allegations, according to a document obtained by The New York Times, ruling in Twitter’s favor in a decision that is likely to set a precedent for future cases involving social media sites and federal campaigns.
The election commission determined that Twitter’s actions regarding the Hunter Biden article had been undertaken for a valid commercial reason, not a political purpose, and were thus allowable.
Perhaps ‘big’ is not automatically evil?
Apple Ruling Poses Hurdles for Biden’s Vow to Tackle Tech Giants
U.S. antitrust officials investigating Apple Inc. face new hurdles after a judge rejected the bulk of Epic Games Inc.’s lawsuit accusing the iPhone maker of thwarting competition laws with its tight grip over the App Store.
… Antitrust lawyers say Friday’s decision in the Epic lawsuit, while not fatal to the Justice Department’s inquiry, presents new challenges for the government because the judge said that Epic failed to establish that Apple’s conduct violates the Sherman Act, the federal law used to target monopolies.
“It raises the bar to any Justice Department lawsuit,” said Joel Mitnick, an antitrust lawyer at Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft LLP who isn’t involved in the case. “Apple pretty much got a flat out victory on all the Sherman Act claims.”
Tools & Techniques. Actually only 6,000 characters per week, but still potentially useful.
https://www.bespacific.com/how-to-create-an-audio-version-of-any-too-long-to-read-article/
How to create an audio version of any too-long-to-read article
Mashable: “If you find reading long articles and features challenging, why not convert them to audio so you can listen to the content at a time and pace that suits you? Whether you’re researching something for work or study, or you just want to read for pleasure, converting the text to audio and then to an MP3 file that you can listen to on your computer or a mobile device is a great option to have. We’ve tried and tested a very simple-to-use, free online tool that can help you create an audio version of any too-long-to-read (we’ll let you be the judge of that!) article in a matter of minutes…”
