Amazon Echos Will Send Recordings to Amazon's Servers, and You Can't Opt Out
In an effort to enhance Alexa's AI capabilities, Amazon announced that all Alexa recordings will now be sent to the cloud for processing—removing a setting that forced commands to be processed on the device without the use of remote servers. Amazon has a history of keeping Alexa recordings, allowing employees to listen to them, and turning them over to police. Amazon says your recordings will be encrypted.
The Bottom Line: We don't recommend using Echo devices or Alexa. Instead, if you're interested in smart home speakers, the HomePod is a good option. Apple's commitment to privacy and security when it comes to Siri and the HomePod means it's a much more trustworthy device.
How Much Does a French Advertiser Know About You?
French advertising giant Publicis has released a sales video bragging about the depth and detail of its profiling of nearly every adult internet user. The company claims to know not just your name, your address, who lives with you, your political leanings, interests, and hobbies, and who all your friends and contacts are, but also what you buy, what you eat, and much more. We don't have access to the Publicis data set so we can't verify these claims; but the video is worth a watch, just to get a sense of what these data broker companies are trying to do, and why they want to do it. Gizmodo has the full story.
The Bottom Line: I've not been able to identify an opt-out page for Publicis (if you find one, please let me know by emailing security@iphonelife.com, and they're not covered by data-broker opt-out services like Incogni.
Need to Quickly Make a PDF? Warning! Online File Converters May Distribute Malware
For years, if you needed to convert a bunch of image files into a PDF, or maybe convert a Microsoft Word .doc file into an Apple Pages .pages file then your first port of call was Google. A quick web search would supply a website or ten promising to convert the files for you for free. Now, the Denver FBI office has issued a warning of a rising number of free websites that will combine your files or convert them as you request, but when you download your new file, you'll get some malware too.
The Bottom Line: Avoid free file conversion websites. You can safely combine images into a .pdf file using the built-in previewer in MacOS, or using the Adobe Acrobat app on your iPhone.
Stop Spam & Wipe Your Data from the Web
Trying to remove yourself from digital lists can feel like trying to stem a flood with a bucket. Let Incogni do the work for you—they deal with databrokers to get you off lists you didn't even know you were on to keep you safe from spam, scams, identity theft, and more. Try Incogni today and stop those spam calls, emails, and texts right in their tracks.
Vulnerabilities Discovered in One Billion Bluetooth Devices
Smart devices such as smart lightbulbs and power switches all have to communicate with your Wi-Fi, and their setup depends on close-range Bluetooth, so almost all of them depend on tiny, cheap circuit boards that combine both Wi-Fi and Bluetooth. One of the more popular of those cheap boards is ESP32, made by the Chinese brand Espressif. Security researchers found that ESP32 was programmed with a large number of administrative debugging commands that were never documented, making it possible for hackers who have compromised a device with an ESP32 chip to retain control over it through reboots or resets, to use it to mask their other activities, and much more. Bleeping Computer has the full story.
Security researchers have long warned that Internet of Things devices, such as smart toothbrushes, smart locks, and smart lightbulbs, have worrisome security implications. This is a concrete example of what sorts of vulnerabilities you bring into your home when you put tiny, cheap computers all over your house—computers you can't monitor for unwelcome activity.
The Bottom Line: Espressif has promised to patch these vulnerabilities in a future update, but since the devices containing ESP32 chips are sold by diverse companies, those updates may take a long time to reach your devices. As always, try to keep your devices up to date.
Google Purchases Wiz for $32 Billion
Not really a security story for the rest of us, but a noteworthy moment. Wiz is a company that specializes in cloud-computing security, and the massive merger is likely an effort by Google to shore up the cloud-computing security image. Ready about it in The Verge.
Facebook, Instagram, and Threads Begin Tests of Community Notes Feature
Meta has begun testing of a community notes feature intended to replace paid fact-checking staff with the free labor of users. The feature is modeled on one implemented on X (Formerly Twitter). Studies of community notes on X suggest that a community note on a false or misleading post is highly likely to cause the poster to delete or retract the post, but community notes are usually too slow to stop the spread of viral misinformation and potentially dangerous rumors.
The Bottom Line: Practice wariness toward viral rumors. Double-check your posts and shares. Community notes are a useful tool, but they're slow, and alarming or extremest rumors may spread faster than community notes can stop.
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