September 05, 2023

SN 938: Apple Says No - Topics coming to Android, Apple security research, browser extension vulnerabilities

2 hours 2 minutes

Steve provides an update on ValiDrive, his new freeware utility for testing USB drives. It identifies bogus mass storage drives and performance differences between drives.

There has been another sighting of Google's Topics API, this time on Android phones. It allows apps to get information about users' interests based on recent app usage.

Apple has opened up their iPhones to security researchers through their Security Research Device program since 2019. Researchers get access to customize kernels, entitlements, and other low-level features without compromising security.

Research reveals vulnerabilities in browser extensions that allow them to steal plaintext passwords from a website's HTML source code. Even sites like Google, Facebook, Amazon, IRS, and Capital One are affected.

Feedback from listeners on topics like Apple's stance on scanning iCloud data for CSAM, Microsoft's broken TLS timestamp implementation, using VirusTotal to check downloaded files, ReadSpeed limitations, and downloading malware for VirusTotal checks.

Apple publicly shares a letter from a CSAM activist demanding they implement scanning to detect child abuse images in iCloud Photos. Apple responds clearly stating they will not compromise user privacy and security to do so.

Show Notes - https://www.grc.com/sn/SN-938-Notes.pdf

Hosts: Steve Gibson and Leo Laporte

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For 16kbps versions, transcripts, and notes (including fixes), visit Steve's site: grc.com, also the home of the best disk maintenance and recovery utility ever written Spinrite 6.

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