In late January, Apple released a security update for what most folks would consider an ancient version of iOS (iOS 12.5.7). It’s rare to see an update for an iOS version that’s 4 major versions old so anyone organization with older iOS devices should take note.
I routinely check out Apple’s security updates page to monitor for bugs that require quick mitigation. You can see the specific security contents for iOS 12.
Sophos released some great analysis last month on fraudulent trading apps in Apple and Google app stores.
What really caught my interest was how the apps passed the app approval processes at both Apple and Google. As a mobile security researcher, I’ve long known that the review processes on both the App Store and Play Store are no substitute for bespoke mobile app security and privacy testing (full disclosure: I’m the co-founder of NowSecure).
“BetterHelp will be required to pay $7.8 million for deceiving consumers after promising to keep sensitive personal data private” reads the subtitle to the FTC press release on 2 Mar 2023. While BetterHelp roll out the tired response that the settlement “is no admission of wrongdoing”, it can still be true if you don’t admit it.
What exactly did they do? From the FTC complaint:
BetterHelp used and revealed consumers’ email addresses, IP addresses, and health questionnaire information to Facebook, Snapchat, Criteo, and Pinterest for advertising purposes, according to the FTC’s complaint
Building on my previous “How to build an iOS app archive via command line” post, let’s now automate the process using GitHub Actions! There are a number of mobile CI/CD capabilities out there such as BitRise, CodeMagic, Jenkins, CircleCI and even Xcode Cloud but there are a lot of advantages to handling CI/CD directly in GitHub including (to name a few):
Already has access to source code Native developer experience Managing your CI/CD configuration in a source controlled yaml file GitHub Marketplace is open and has a massive number of integrations and helpful actions When I first embarked on this technical how to, I have to admit it was pretty overwhelming.
Your weekly digest of Mobile Security and Privacy News in under 8 minutes (shoot, 17 mins this week, sorry)! Each digest will cover the past week of briefings so you can quickly catch up on all the important topics in mobile security and privacy.
If you have any topics you’d like me to cover in the future, just drop me a comment in the YouTube video.
Here’s links to the briefings covered in this weekly digest:
Top10VPN researchers uncovered privacy violations in the top 10 unofficial ChatGPT apps on the Apple App and Android Play Stores. I say unofficial because OpenAI does not offer official ChatGPT mobile apps (you should use ChatGPT via the web interface).
It’s not surprising that a technology that exploded into the mainstream so quickly would also create an opportunity for privacy (and probably security) abuse. Many folks are probably not aware that these apps are unofficial and certainly don’t inspect what sort of data is collected.
Sam Curry (Twitter | Homepage), a Web Application Security Researcher, and a small group of friends found a staggering number of serious vulnerabilities in the mobile and web apps of nearly 20 automotive companies. He provides a fairly detailed write up on his blog “Web Hackers vs. The Auto Industry: Critical Vulnerabilities in Ferrari, BMW, Rolls Royce, Porsche, and More” and here’s a Twitter thread about Hyundai and Genesis mobile app with starting with:
The Department of Defense’s Inspector General released a management advisory on 9 Feb 2023 titled “The DoD’s Use of Mobile Applications” (version with highlights). The advisory determined that:
“DoD personnel are conducting official business on their DoD mobile devices using mobile applications in violation of Federal and DoD electronic messaging and records retention policies” “DoD personnel are downloading mobile applications to their DoD mobile devices that could pose operational and cybersecurity risks to DoD information and information systems.
The National Security Agency (NSA) maintains a list of NSA Cybersecurity Advisories & Guidance and recently released a list of Best Practices For Securing Your Home Network. These are certainly worth taking a look at and for folks worried about downloading a PDF from the NSA, I’ve listed the primary recommendations at the bottom of this blog.
While reviewing the document, though, I noticed a link to their Mobile Device Best Practices and wanted to pass that along as well.
Your weekly digest of Mobile Security and Privacy News in under 8 minutes! Each digest will cover the past week of briefings so you can quickly catch up on all the important topics in mobile security and privacy.
If you have any topics you’d like me to cover in the future, just drop me a comment in the YouTube video.
Here’s links to the briefings covered in this weekly digest: