Curt Long

Curt Long

Hackers can steal your iOS and Mac passwords with a single image file

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A new vulnerability discovered by a Cisco researcher could allow hackers to gain access to the internal storage and stored passwords on your iOS or Mac device – and all they’d have to do is send you a malicious image file.

Tyler Bohan of Cisco Talos found that a TIFF format file – sent via MMS, email or placed on a webpage that a victim is guided to visit – can hide malware which can run automatically, without being detected.

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In addition to beaming across your authentication credentials on iOS, Mac OS X, tvOS and watchOS, the vulnerability can also allow attackers to remotely control Macs which don’t support sandboxing.

Thankfully, these issues have been patched by Apple; you’ll need to update to the latest versions of their operating systems – iOS 9.3.3, El Capitan 10.11.6, tvOS 9.2.2 and watchOS 2.2.2 – to stay safe.

If this sounds familiar, it’s because the security flaw is eerily similar to the Stagefright vulnerability discovered in Android devices last year. After it was spotted last August, a second version was uncovered in which hardware could be compromised by sending across an audio file.

Vulnerability Spotlight: Apple Remote Code Execution With Image Fileson Talos Blog

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Snowden is designing a tin foil hat for your iPhone

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Not-so-fun fact: your smartphone can be tricked into transmitting signals even when it’s turned off. That means it can be used to track your location without your knowledge. And NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden is having none of it.

That’s why he’s collaborating with famed hardware hacker Andrew “Bunnie” Huang to create an iPhone 6 case that can detect whether your phone is transmitting data when it’s not supposed to. The idea is to protect journalists, rights workers and the like from being tracked by governments and to expose their agencies’ efforts to spy on such people.

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The case is still just a concept at this point, but the duo have published a paper describing its design. Essentially, it will feature probe wires that access the phone’s antennae through the SIM slot to monitor them signal transmission. A display on the outside of the case, along with audible alarms, informs users of the phone’s status.

It certainly might be overkill for ordinary civilians who harbor only minor distrust in their governments, but it might be just the thing for journalists who cover sensitive issues in areas of conflict.

In their paper, Snowden and Huang cited the case of American reporter Marie Colvin of The Sunday Times, whose family claims she was tracked by the Assad regime in Syria and killed for covering stories about civilian casualties.

Countering Lawful Abuses of Digital Surveillanceon Bunnie’s Blog

Read next: Hackers can steal your iOS and Mac passwords with a single image file

10 Awesome WordPress Features That You Probably Didn’t Know Existed

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WordPress comes with so many awesome features and is continuously changing. Some of these features may not get the attention they deserve and remain a little hidden. In this article, we will show you 10 awesome WordPress features that you probably didn’t know existed.

1. Show/Hide Things Using Screen Options

You may have noticed the Screen Options button on some pages of your WordPress admin area. This Screen Options button allows you to show and hide items on the WordPress admin screen you are currently viewing.

Many beginner WordPress users are unaware of this feature. It allows you to simplify your admin pages like post edit screen to meet your workflow.

2. Move, Add, or Delete Dashboard Widgets

By default, users are redirected to the dashboard page in WordPress admin area when they login. The dashboard page has several handy shortcuts pointing to different sections of your website.

These sections are divided into different boxes called dashboard widgets. You can click on the Screen Options button to show or hide these boxes. You can also drag and drop them to rearrange items on your WordPress dashboard.

3. Paste URL to Make Links in Visual Editor

WordPress 4.5 introduced inline link editing in the visual editor.

Many users didn’t realize that instead of using a popup to paste a link, they can just select a text and press CTRL+V (Command+V on mac) to paste the URL. The visual editor automatically converts it into a link.

4. Accessibility Mode for Widgets

We all like how easy it is to just drag and drop widgets into sidebars. However, for many users it is not easy to drag and drop things using a mouse or trackpad.

WordPress also comes with a hidden accessibility mode for widgets. This accessibility mode makes it easier to add widgets without draging and dropping the items.

Accessibility mode for WordPress widgets can be activated by clicking on Screen Options button on the Appearance » Widgets page.

5. Preview Themes Without Activating Them

Many users worry that changing their WordPress theme will have unwanted consequences for their website. Their concern is genuine, that’s why we prepared a checklist of things you must do before changing your WordPress theme.

One of the things you can do is to test the new theme without activating it. Simply install your new WordPress theme and then go to Appearance » Themes page.

Take the mouse to the newly installed theme’s thumbnail and then click on Live Preview button. WordPress will launch the theme customizer showing preview of your website using the new theme.

6. Edit Images in WordPress

WordPress makes it easy to add images to your posts and pages. What many beginners don’t know is that WordPress also comes with some basic image editing features.

Simply visit Media » Library page and then click on any image. From the image details popup you can click on the Edit Image button.

In the image editing mode, you can crop, rotate, and resize an image. You can also flip an image in horizontal or vertical directions. These image editing features come in handy when you need to quickly crop or resize a large image file directly from WordPress.

For more details, see our guide on how to crop, rotate, scale, and flip images in WordPress.

7. Split Single Post into Multiple Pages

Want to split a lengthy post into multiple pages? Simply add <!–nextpage–> tag in your post and WordPress will split it into two pages. Add the tag again if you want to split it into more pages.

This feature is particularly helpful if you are writing an unusually lengthy article and don’t want users to scroll to much.

See our guide on how to split WordPress posts into multiple pages for more details on post pagination.

8. Embed Links, Videos, and Multimedia

WordPress automatically embeds content from some of the most popular websites like YouTube, Twitter, Instagram, etc. All you need to do is paste a URL from one of the supported sites and WordPress will automatically embed it for you.

Since WordPress 4.4, all WordPress sites have become oEmbed service providers themselves. This means you can paste URL from another WordPress site into your post and WordPress will embed the post for you.

9. Hidden Secret Options Page in WordPress

WordPress comes with a hidden master page for all your blog options. This page is hidden because users can easily mess things up here, so we don’t want you to use it. But you should definitely check it out. You can access it by visiting this URL:

http://example.com/wp-admin/options.php

Replace example.com with your own domain name. You will see a page with a long list of options. For more details see our guide on the hidden secret options page in WordPress.

10. Markdown and Keyboard Shortcuts Help you Write Faster

Most WordPress users spend more time writing content than anything else on their site. This is is why WordPress developers are always trying to improve the writing experience in WordPress.

WordPress comes with a whole range of keyboard shortcuts that you can use to write faster. Apart from these shortcuts, you can also use Markdown like formatting shortcuts. Just enter the formatting shortcuts and WordPress will convert them into HTML.

  • Using * or – will start an unordered list.
  • Using 1. or 1) will start an ordered list.
  • Using # will transform into h1. ## for h2, ### for h3 and so on.
  • Using > will transform into blockquote.

You can also disable these formatting shortcuts if you want.

We hope this article helped you discover some awesome WordPress featured that you probably didn’t know about. You may also want to see our list of 10 WordPress plugins that will quickly help you get more traffic.

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