At the moment, the best way to log in to macOS without having to type out a password is to buy a MacBook Air or a MacBook Pro with a Touch ID sensor above the keyboard. It’s present on all Apple laptops now, though it’s not yet an option on desktop Macs, and it’s not […]
The profile names, email addresses, and phone numbers of over 500 million Facebook users have been circulating publicly online for nearly a week. It took days for Facebook to finally acknowledge the root cause, an issue the company says it fixed in 2019. But now researchers are saying Facebook knew about similar vulnerabilities for years […]
When the encrypted communications app Signal launched nearly seven years ago, it brought the promise of the strongest available encryption to a dead-simple interface for calling and texting. Now, Signal is incorporating what it describes as a way to bring that same ease of use and security to a third, fundamentally distinct feature: payments. Signal […]
The UK is planning a new attack on end-to-end encryption, with the Home Office set to spearhead efforts designed to discourage Facebook from further rolling out the technology to its messaging apps. Home Secretary Priti Patel is planning to deliver a keynote speech at a child protection charity’s event focused on exposing the perceived ills […]
Android has cycled through various AirDrop-style approaches of its own down the years, but the most recent one is called Nearby Share. It’s an Android-to-Android file-sharing system, though it isn’t available on all handsets. If you have Nearby Share, you can find it by opening up Settings then choosing Google and Device connections. From this […]
As smartphone apps track our every move, a group of technologists in the US and UK this week offered guidelines for the ethical uses of location data. Leaders of the American Geographical Society and Britain’s mapping agency, the Ordnance Survey, want companies to commit to 10 principles, including minimizing data collection and actively seeking consent […]
Google’s grip on the web has never been stronger. Its Chrome web browser has almost 70 percent of the market and its search engine a whopping 92 percent share. That’s a lot of data—and advertising revenue—for one of the world’s most powerful companies. But Google’s dominance is being challenged. Regulators are questioning its monopoly position […]
Everyone sends emails now: political parties, your book club, freelance journalists, the social networks you’re signed up to, your parents, that online store that you only bought one item from a decade ago, and many, many more. What do a lot of those email senders have in common? They want to know whether the messages […]
For years, simple setup errors have been a major source of exposure when companies keep data in the cloud. Instead of carefully restricting who can access the information stored in their cloud infrastructure, organizations too often misconfigure their defenses. It’s the digital equivalent of leaving the windows or doors open at your house before going […]
For years, tech companies have touted blockchain technology as a means to develop identity systems that are secure and decentralized. The goal is to build a platform that could store information about official data without holding the actual documents or details themselves. Instead of just storing a scan of your birth certificate, for example, a […]