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The fight against identity theft is not just a challenge for businesses or individuals – it is a collective battle
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How to foster a cyber secure company culture
Why promoting cyber security awareness in organizational education, training and development is so important
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Microsoft is finally making Edge a much more secure place to surf the web
Keeping safe online is about to get a lot easier for Edge users thanks to a major security update from Microsoft.
The software giant has revealed it is working on an upgrade for its web browser that will bring “enhanced security” as a default for users everywhere.
This includes adding additional operating system and hardware protections for Edge that the company says, when combined, will help provide “defense in depth”, making it more difficult than ever before for a malicious site to use an unpatched vulnerability to write to executable memory and attack an end user.
Edge enhanced security
Going forward, users will now see an additional banner with the words “added security” in the URL navigation bar in Edge, instantly letting you know you have extra protection for that specific site.
“Microsoft Edge is adding enhanced security protections to provide an extra layer of protection when browsing the web and visiting unfamiliar sites,” the company wrote in a blog post announcing the news.
“The web platform is designed to give you a rich browsing experience using powerful technologies like JavaScript. On the other hand, that power can translate to more exposure when you visit a malicious site. With enhanced security mode, Microsoft Edge helps reduce the risk of an attack by automatically applying more conservative security settings on unfamiliar sites and adapts over time as you continue to browse.”
More security for Edge
Users will be able to create exceptions for certain trusted websites, where enhanced security can either be disabled or enabled permanently. Enterprise admins can also configure for certain websites to be blocked or allowed,
In its entry on the official Microsoft 365 roadmap, the company noted enhanced security mode is being turned on by default to “Balanced” mode for x64 Windows, x64 macOS, x64 Linux, and ARM64 systems.
The update is still listed as being “in development” for the time being, but has a scheduled rollout start date of July 2023, when users across the globe will be able to access it.
Recent Statcounter figures show that Microsoft's ongoing efforts to push users towards Edge may not be having the desired effect. Its most recent report found that Edge had lost its second place in the global browser market to Apple's Safari offering, which now claims 11.87% of users, compared to Edge's 11% – although both trail far behind runaway leader Google Chrome (66.13%).
- Out list of the best online collaboration tools around
The first iOS 16.6 beta has made iMessage even more secure
Apple has only just dropped iOS 16.5, but already there’s a public beta for iOS 16.6, the finished version of which will probably land in the next month or so, based on past form. This doesn’t look to be one of the biggest iOS updates ever, but there’s one potentially very useful new feature.
That feature is iMessage Contact Key Verification, which Apple actually announced last year, but is only now activating. If you and the person or people you’re messaging both enable this feature, then you’ll be alerted if Apple detects a potential intrusion – for example, if the cloud servers your messages are carried on appear to have been breached.
Contact Verification Codes can also be compared and verified in person or over a FaceTime call. So, all this is essentially a way of verifying that you’re talking to the person you believe you’re talking to, and that no one is eavesdropping on the conversation.
This is probably a level of security beyond what most people really need, especially as iMessage is already end-to-end encrypted. Indeed, when Apple announced the feature, it positioned this as something aimed at people facing “extraordinary digital threats,” such as journalists and government officials.
It’s a feature that’s designed to stop “an exceptionally advanced adversary, such as a state-sponsored attacker,” so this isn’t something you should – in theory – need to avoid garden-variety hackers. That said, it’s something anyone can enable, so if you want that extra peace of mind, the option is now there.
Or it will be, anyway – while the feature is now visible, it doesn’t appear to be functional yet, according to BGR.
Few features to find
Presumably, then, Apple is still getting it set up, but with it visible in this iOS 16.6 beta, it seems very likely that the iMessage Contact Key Verification feature will fully launch in the finished version of iOS 16.6.
This seems to be the only feature that has been found in this iOS 16.6 beta, and handily Apple hasn’t provided any release notes for the beta. So, there may be more features lurking in there, and there may be additional features added in subsequent betas or the finished iOS 16.6 release.
But as we’re not aware of any functional changes in this current build, there’s probably no need to download it. And while it will definitely be worth grabbing the finished version, we might not see many new features until iOS 17.
Chats in Google Messages are about to get even more secure
Google has announced that it's bringing end-to-end encryption to group chats in the Google Messages app. The security upgrade is heading to beta users first before being rolled out more widely.
End-to-end encryption means no one, not even Google, can read the content of messages. It's already supported in the Google Messages app for one-to-one chats, but now (via The Verge) it's going to be added to group conversations as well.
“End-to-end encryption is starting to roll out for group chats and will be available to some users in the open beta program over the coming weeks,” Google says. “This shouldn’t even be a thought – just an expectation and something anyone texting should not have to worry about.”
From SMS to RCS
In the same announcement blog post, Google revealed that the ability to quickly react to a message with any emoji is coming to Google Messages soon as well. At the moment, only a selection of emojis can be used as reactions.
Alongside a mention of these new features, Google also continued to push hard for RCS (Rich Communication Services) to become the new standard for everyone – the technology, an upgrade on SMS, is now widely available but has yet to be adopted by Apple on its iPhones.
Google's post also acknowledged the 30th anniversary of the SMS, a milestone which emphasizes how old the technology is as well as how overdue we now are for a standard that can fully replace it.
Analysis: SMS should really be history
The arrival of SMS three decades ago helped to transform the way that we communicate with each other – even if the messages were limited in terms of characters, and many phones could only store a limited number of texts at any one time.
Now, apps like WhatsApp and Slack have taken us far, far beyond those limitations. Messages can be much longer and include photos, videos or audio, and we can even tell when recipients have opened up the messages we send them.
It's benefits like these that make RCS a worthwhile upgrade, improving the security of messages and making features such as group chats much better. Google didn't create the standard, but it is heavily promoting it.
However, whenever an iPhone user texts an Android user, SMS is still the protocol used. Google wants that to change, but it's unlikely that Apple ever will – Apple knows that iMessage is one of the key reasons that people stick with iPhones.
How to Secure Your SaaS Stack with a SaaS Security Posture Management Solution
SaaS Security Posture Management (SSPM) named a must have solution by Gartner. Adaptive Shields SSPM solution allows security teams full visibility and control.
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Google wants secure open-source software to be the future
After attending the recent White House Open Source Software Security Summit, Google is now calling for a public-private partnership to not only fund but also staff essential open-source projects.
In a new blog post, president of global affairs and chief legal officer at both Google and Alphabet, Kent Walker laid out the search giant's plans to better secure the open-source software ecosystem.
For too long, businesses and governments have taken comfort in the assumption that open source software is generally secure due to its transparent nature. While many believe that more eyes watching can help detect and resolve problems in the open source community, some projects actually don't have many eyes on them while others have few or none at all.
To its credit, Google has been working to raise awareness of the state of open source security and the company has invested millions in developing frameworks and new protective tools. However, the Log4j vulnerability and others before it have shown that more work is needed across the ecosystem to develop new models to maintain and secure open source software.
Public-private partnership
In his blog post, Kent proposes creating a new public-private partnership to identify a list of critical open source projects to help prioritize and allocate resources to ensure their security.
In the long term though, new ways of identifying open source software and components that may pose a system risk need to be implemented so that the level of security required can be anticipated and the appropriate resources can be provided.
At the same time, security, maintenance and testing baselines need to be established across both the public and private sector. This will help ensure that national infrastructure and other important systems can continue to rely on open source projects. These standards also should be developed through a collaborative process according to Kent with an “emphasis on frequent updates, continuous testing and verified integrity”. Fortunately, the software community has already started this work with organizations like OpenSFF working across industry to create these standards.
Now that Google has weighed in on the issue of open source security, expect other tech giants like Microsoft and Apple to propose their own ideas regarding the matter.
We've also rounded up the best open source software and the best business laptops
Google is launching a more secure place for your photos
Keeping the photos and videos stored on your Android smartphone away from prying eyes is about to get a whole lot easier as the new Locked Folder feature in Google Photos is now rolling out to even more devices.
Google's own Pixel phones were the first devices to get access to this feature and now almost six months later, it's finally becoming available to smartphones from other device manufacturers including Samsung, OPPO and OnePlus.
While Google Photos acts as a cloud storage service for your photos, it's worth noting that pictures moved to a Locked Folder will no longer be backed up to the cloud and will only be available on your smartphone. At the same time, if you uninstall Google Photos or clear its app data, all of the items inside your Locked Folder will also be deleted.
For this reason, you should back up these photos online using one of the best photo cloud storage services for safekeeping before getting started with Google Photos' Locked Folder feature.
Hiding sensitive photos and videos
According to a support document from Google, to configure the Locked Folder feature in Google Photos, you'll first need to open the app and go to Library > Utilities > Locked Folder.
From here, just follow the on-screen instructions to unlock your device though if you don't have a screen lock set up for your smartphone, you'll need to do that first before using Locked Folder. Once the Locked Folder feature is ready, you can select the photos and videos you want to secure, tap on the three dot menu and select Move to Locked Folder to hide these items from the main Google Photos library.
If you own one of Google's Pixel phones, you can save photos directly from Pixel camera to Locked Folder to have them hidden automatically.
Up until now, Android users had to rely on third-party apps to hide photos and videos stored on their devices but with Locked Folder now rolling out to non-Pixel phones, you'll be able to secure all of your photos and videos directly in Google Photos.
We've also rounded up the best cloud storage, best photo cloud storage and best cloud backup services
Via Android Central
Cyber Polygon 2021: Towards Secure Development of Digital Ecosystems
Cybersecurity is one of the most important topics on the global agenda, boosted by the pandemic. As the global digitalisation is further accelerating, the world is becoming ever more interconnected. Digital ecosystems are being created all around us: countries, corporations and individuals are taking advantage of the rapid spread of the Internet and smart devices. In this context, a single vulnerable link is enough to bring down the entire system, just like the domino effect.
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Can Nanotech Secure IoT Devices From the Inside-Out?
Work’s being done with uber-lightweight nanoagents on every IoT device to stop malicious behavior, such as a scourge of botnet attacks, among other threats.
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