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Submission + - Researchers Use Siri to Steal Data From iPhones (securityweek.com)

Submitted by wiredmikey
wiredmikey writes: Using Apple's voice-activated Siri function, security researchers have managed to steal sensitive information from iOS smartphones in a stealthy manner. Luca Caviglione of the National Research Council of Italy and Wojciech Mazurczy of the Warsaw University of Technology warn that malicious actors could use Siri for stealthy data exfiltration by using a method that’s based on steganography, the practice of hiding information.

Dubbed "iStegSiri" by the researchers, the attack can be effective because it doesn’t require the installation of additional software components and it doesn’t need the device’s alteration. On the other hand, it only works on jailbroken devices and attackers somehow need to be able to intercept the modified Siri traffic.

The attack method involves controlling the “shape” of this traffic to embed sensitive data from the device. This covert channel could be used to send credit card numbers, Apple IDs, passwords, and other sensitive information from the phone to the criminal mastermind, researchers said in their paper.

Submission + - Questions Raised About Apple Software Quality 2

Submitted by HughPickens.com
HughPickens.com writes: Jean-Louis Gassée writes in Monday Note that the painful gestation of OS X 10.10 (Yosemite) with its damaged iWork apps, the chaotic iOS 8 launch, iCloud glitches, and the trouble with Continuity, have raised concerns about the quality of Apple software. “It Just Works”, the company’s pleasant-sounding motto, has became an easy target, giving rise to jibes of “it just needs more work”. "I suspect the rapid decline of Apple’s software is a sign that marketing is too high a priority at Apple today," writes Marco Arment. "having major new releases every year is clearly impossible for the engineering teams to keep up with while maintaining quality." Many issues revolve around the general reliability of OS X. "With Yosemite, I typically have to reboot my laptop at least once a day, and my desktop every few days of use," writes Glenn Fleishman. "The point of owning a Mac is to not have to reboot it regularly. There have been times in the past between OS X updates where I've gone weeks to months without a restart." I know what I hope for concludes Gassée. "I don’t expect perfection, I’ve lived inside several sausage factories and remember the smell. If Apple were to spend a year concentrating on solid fixes rather than releasing software that’s pushed out to fit a hardware schedule, that would show an ascent rather than a slide."

Submission + - Republican Bill Aims to Thwart The FCC's leaning towards Title II

Submitted by SpzToid
SpzToid writes: U.S. congressional Republicans on Friday proposed legislation that would set "net neutrality" rules for broadband providers, aiming to head off tougher regulations backed by the Obama administration.

Republican lawmakers hope to counter the Federal Communications Commission's vote on Feb. 26 for rules that are expected to follow the legal path endorsed by President Barack Obama, which Internet service providers (ISPs) and Republicans say would unnecessarily burden the industry with regulation.

Net neutrality activists, now with Obama's backing, have advocated for regulation of ISPs under a section of communications law known as Title II, which would treat them more like public utilities.

The White House on Thursday said legislation was not necessary to settle so-called "net neutrality" rules because the Federal Communications Commission had the authority to write them.

Comment Re:No. (Score 1) 562

by Z00L00K (#48843079) Attached to: Obama: Gov't Shouldn't Be Hampered By Encrypted Communications

I agree - weakening the fence that encryption offers will just cause more problems for the general population.

Criminals will just put more effort into encrypting their data and use additional methods like steganography where the messages are hidden in documents like images. You can't even know if a text message contains typos or are coded. "I is not amused" - a good example of a common mistake made by people not fluent in English. Dialectal perks are also a headache.

Better result will be obtained if the suspects are targeted by classic means. Listening in on network traffic only is leading to misunderstandings if only part of the communication is seen - the users may discuss gaming strategy rather than real world attacks.

Submission + - Linus on Diversity and Niceness in Open Source 1

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: Linus Torvalds has sent a lengthy statement to Ars Technica responding to statements he made in a conference in New Zealand. One of his classic comments in NZ was: "I'm not a nice person, and I don't care about you. I care about the technology and the kernel — that's what's important to me." On diversity, he said that "the most important part of open source is that people are allowed to do what they are good at" and "all that stuff is just details and not really important." Now he writes: "What I wanted to say — and clearly must have done very badly — is that one of the great things about open source is exactly the fact that different people are so different", and that "I don't know where you happen to be based, but this 'you have to be nice' seems to be very popular in the US," calling the concept of being nice an "ideology".

Comment Re:parachutes? (Score 5, Informative) 130

by Z00L00K (#48830395) Attached to: Lost Beagle2 Probe Found 'Intact' On Mars

It's still an atmosphere there - at the speeds that the payload is arriving parachutes will work fine to slow it down quite a bit. But for the final phase airbags and other means like braking rockets still are needed.

The initial hit on the atmosphere is a heat shield, but when that no longer is needed then you continue the slowdown with parachutes. Using rockets for the full deceleration is probably heavier than the parachutes otherwise they would have used them.

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