While Apple Intelligence isn’t as impressive as it was made out to be, the company isn’t giving up on artificial intelligence. The brand is already working with OpenAI to integrate advanced AI capabilities, but it seems like future AI plans might give Apple some trouble.

Apple may face scrutiny for AI deal with Alibaba

The Cupertino based giant has plans to introduce more AI models, and this might involve the Chinese giant, Alibaba. However, this deal has unsurprisingly raised alarms for US lawmakers who are wary of the Apple-Alibaba partnership. According to The New York Times report, a source claimed that White House officials and members of the House Select Committee on China are asking Apple executives about this collaboration.

The primary cause of concern seems to revolve around data and in what capacity it would be shared with Alibaba. It seems like Apple is also being questioned about possible commitments that it might have made with Chinese regulators. The iPhone maker’s answers may have been unsatisfactory, as the source claimed that Apple execs could not answer most of these questions. This would likely lead to Apple facing increased scrutiny in the AI deal with Alibaba.

Apple aims to bring more AI models to Apple Intelligence. But so far, only OpenAI’s ChatGPT seems to be the only available option. Working with Chinese companies raises concerns over national security, particularly around data security, data privacy, and more. Earlier this year, a rumor had also surfaced of Apple turning to DeepSeek to bring Apple Intelligence for the iPhones sold in China, which is against sharing its citizens’ data with a foreign AI model.

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Zoom has just rolled out a new update for its application on Apple Mac platform. The new update patches a major security vulnerability that would allow hackers to gain deep access to one’s Mac system.

According to a ArsTechnica report, the popular cloud based video conferencing service had to patch a major security flaw that enabled people with malicious to gain root level access to one’s Mac PCs. This would let the hackers take control of their systems. Apparently, this vulnerability stemmed from the Zoom application’s auto updater software, which had root level access to the system. This software only had a signature verification system that could be easily fooled by giving your package a familiar file name.

In other words, a hacker could potentially force your app to downgrade or otherwise enable exploits as well. The security flaw was first discovered by Patrick Wardle, the Objective-See Foundation (OSF) creator and researcher. Wardle had informed Zoom regarding this vulnerability back in December 2021. Now, the company has officially fixed this issue, although, the patch also brought another bug as well.

However, this was also soon fixed by Zoom, but Wardle found yet another bug in the application which was just recently patched as well. Notably, this isn’t the first time Zoom faced security related issues with its platform for the Mac systems. The company also had to quickly fix a webcam hijack exploit back in 2019, which lead to rise in criticism of the software, especially in 2020 when the app exploded in popularity.

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Last week, the Indian government issued an order which required VPN (Virtual Private Network) based companies to collect and provide it with user data.

The order, issued by the Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT-in), which is a department under the Ministry of Electronics and IT requires these companies to collect sensitive user data like IP addresses, usage patterns, etc, and store it for up to 5 years before eventually handing it over to the government whenever asked. Failing to comply with these orders can result in prison sentences of up to a year under Section 70B(7).

The government has stated that this move is aimed at “coordinate response activities as well as emergency measures with respect to cyber security incidents.”

As you can imagine, this is a direct step against data privacy. And it appears that major VPN companies operating in India are unlikely to comply with these orders according to recent statements issued by them.

Laura Tyrylyte, who is the security spokesperson for NordVPN said “We are committed to protecting the privacy of our customers, therefore, we may remove our servers from India if no other options are left.”

Express VPN also issued a statement saying “VPNs are critical for user safety and the preservation of user’s right to online privacy and are fundamentally opposed to any efforts to undermine such technologies.”

Shurfshark VPN’s legal head Gytis Malinauskas has said that “We operate only with RAM-only servers, which means that at this moment, even technically, we would not be able to comply with the logging requirements.

Going by the statements of these major VPN service providers and their firm stance against the Indian Government’s mandate, it could be possible that these companies might soon stop providing their services in India. The last date for complying with the CERT-in’s directive is June 27th, 2022, so stay tuned for more updates on the matter.

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India has just issued a new order that appears to be a step against data privacy. The government is now asking VPN based companies to collect and provide it with user data.

According to an Entrackr report, the government wants Virtual Private Network firms to collect the user’s data for five years on their servers and then eventually hand it over to the government. This order is not limited to just VPN based companies and even targets Cloud and Crypto based firms as well. The report adds that firms that do not comply with this order may face prison sentence up to a year under the Section 70B(7). This order has been issues by a department under the Ministry of Electronics and IT, which is known as Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT-in).

The department has urged VPN companies to collect sensitive user data, which includes their customer’s names after validating them. Furthermore, they would even have to store other forms of information of the user like their IP addresses, usage patterns, and even other forms of identifiable information as well. All in all, the IT Ministry department stated that these efforts are being made to “coordinate response activities as well as emergency measures with respect to cyber security incidents.” However, this is a major step against data privacy since companies are now legally allowed and required to collect and store your data as per the new order.

The VPN, cloud, and crytpo based firms will begin collecting data starting from the date of 27th June 2021. So, the process is already underway. Unfortunately, many firms might face difficulties (especially VPN firms) that advertise their services with a no logs policy. Additionally, VPN users typically use the service to hide their original IP address and online footprint. This even helps in hiding their IP addresses from malicious individuals like hackers. So, collecting such user data defeats the purpose and makes data leaks more likely in the near future.

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Samsung Electronics has apparently suffered a major security breach. The hackers behind this breach have claimed that they have leaked data that is worth 190GB, which includes source code and biometric unlocking algorithms.

According to Bleeping Computer report (Via Apple Insider), the South Korean tech giant was hit with the security breach earlier this month. The group behind this hacking incident was Lapsus$, which claimed that it seized the large amount of data from Samsung Electronics. If this news is true, it means that the brand has a notable issue with security. Furthermore, the data leak was first teased by the group on Friday, with a picture of C/C++ directives in Samsung software.

The group also added in the description that the leak contains “confidential Samsung source code” as well. Reportedly, this code includes the source for every Trusted Applet in Samsung’s TrustZone environment, which is responsible for every sensitive tasks such as hardware cryptography and access control. Additionally, the leak also includes other sensitive data related to biometric unlock operation algorithms, the bootloader source for recent devices, activation server source code, and the full source code used to authenticate and authorize Samsung accounts.

As of right now, it is also expected that some confidential source code related to Qualcomm was also leaked. The hacker group has shared the leaked data through torrents, however, it is currently unknown as to exactly how much data the group has managed to acquire. It is also unclear if the group sought to hold this sensitive information ransom from the company. Samsung officials have said that they are assessing the overall situation regarding the breach, so we’ll have to wait and see what move the brand takes in the arriving weeks.

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Meizu, the Chinese smartphone maker, is apparently seeking to expand its business horizons by entering the corporate sector. The company announced that will be launching a new corporate service business to offer customized smartphones and more to its clients.

The brand shared the new earlier this month on its official website. This service will offer deep customization capabilities, with rich application and professional solutions to industry players. As per official notes, the corporate services from Meizu will offer professional and personalized customization as per the needs of its clients. This includes body logo engraving service, exclusive boot animations, customized theme UI, and even pre installed corporate exclusive software services.

In other words, the smartphones from the company could arrive with specific customization to cater to its customers. Other services include, device locking, device positioning, data erasure, preventing root and flashing, among more features. The new customized smartphones from Meizu will also arrive with multi protection systems for applications and their data to prevent leaks and ensure data encryption.

Its customized smartphones will also arrive with application management operations such as remote silent installation or uninstallation as per the firms’ requirements. Apart from just handsets, the company also plans on including certain AIoT products like smartwatches with the customization services support as well.

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Krafton has been facing increasing scrutiny by Indian government officials just prior to the launch of Battlegrounds Mobile India. The new title is the relaunch of the previously banned game, PUBG Mobile that was ported by Tencent.

According to a ZeeNews report, Indian Parliament member Arvind Dharampuri has written to IT Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad regarding the upcoming release of Battlegrounds Mobile India. This letter was sent earlier this month and stated that Dharampuri has received representation against Battlegrounds Mobile India by social activist Sai Kumar. The letter doesn’t call for a ban for the game outright, but rather, points at certain issues brought to Dharampuri that are quite serious, and should warrant a closer look by the government.

The information from Sai Kumar regarding the new game added that while developer Krafton has promised data security by having all data stored in India and Singapore, it will also allow international data transfers. Furthermore, the game’s terms of service will be governed by the laws of South Korea, which is where Krafton Inc is based. Dharampuri further asked the Union Minister to take a close look at Krafton’s investments and agreements with Tencent over security concerns.

For those unaware, there have been calls for the ban of the game in India ever since its announcement last month. Back in May 2021, Arunachal Pradesh MLA Ninong Ering called for the ban of the game along with MP Abhishek Singhvi as it would enable Tencent to re-enter the Indian market. That is all the information we have at the moment, so stay tuned for more updates.

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The data collected in China from electric cars made by Tesla are stored within the country, as per a company executive. This statement arrives after the Chinese military banned the company’s cars from entering its facilities.

According to a Reuters report, the vice president of the company issued the statement after it faced a ban from the Chinese military. For those unaware, the known electric vehicle maker is facing scrutiny in the region in terms of security and data collection. Previously, we had reported that the cars made by the company do not have cameras enabled by default outside of North America. This statement was made due to the brand being accused of being a security risk in the country.

Now, Tao Lin stated that “Tesla as a company with operations in China must abide China’s laws and regulations. Our data is very well protected. Chinese data is stored in China.” The senior official further added that the company would even share its understanding of data protection with the Chinese government. This even prompted the Tesla Chief Executive Elon Musk to say that his company would be shut down if the cars were to spy.

At the moment, Tesla is building its electric Model 3 sedans and Model Y sport utility vehicles in Shanghai. Meanwhile, China is the largest electric vehicle market in the world. Thus, it would make sense that the company would likely comply with the strict regulations that are imposed in the region. So stay tuned for more, as we will be providing updates when additional information is available.

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Foxconn recently suffered from a Ransomware attack that has reportedly damaged its servers and backups. The company is reeling from the attack, which also had sensitive data being stolen.

According to a CRN report, Foxconn suffered a ransomware attack on 29th Novermber 2020 in its North American facility, which is located in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico. The attack was from ransomware operator DoppelPaymer, who is now demanding 34.7 million US Dollars in Bitcoin. The ransomware operator even leaked certain generic Foxconn business documents on their data leak website earlier this week.

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As per the ransom note, “Your files, backups and shadow copies are unavailable until you pay for a decryption tool,” DoppelPaymer wrote in a ransom note that appears on Foxconn’s servers. “If no contact [is] made in 3 business days after the infection, [the] first portion of data will be shared to [the] public … and all the rest will remain unreachable to you.”

DoppelPaymer apparently encryted about 1,200 servers, stole 100GB of unencrypted files, deleted 20 to 30TB of backups and more in their November 29 attack. The ransom for these files is 1,804 Bitcoins. Foxconn is a known supplier of Apple, and it remains to be seen what action the Taiwanese electronics manufacturer takes in response to this. The ransom note, which is actually a link, also stated that “This page and your decryption key will expire in 21 days after your systems were infected. Sharing this link or email will lead to the irreversible removal of the decryption key.”

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With online privacy and data security becoming an increasing issue in recent times, various companies have taken multiple steps to secure their own systems. Now one would expect the general public to do the same, but it seems that a few have yet to realize just how terrible their passwords are.

So, lets look into some of the worst offenders of this year. The original list was compiled by NordPass, which is a password manager, and was reported by GizModo. As per the company’s list, there are still millions people using highly insecure passwords like “123456” AND “password” for their various login credentials. The worst part is that some of these passwords in the top 20 are the usual suspects that appear frequently in this list every year.

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Unfortunately, while the password might be easy to remember and convenient for the user, they take less than a minute to crack. This also holds true to the other numerical variations like, “000000” or “123123.” Furthermore, this also extends to any other simple alphabetical passwords that generally use adjacent letters on a QWERTY format keyboard like “qwertyuiop” or “asdfghjkl.”

Here are the top 20 worst passwords of 2020:

1. 123456
2. 123456789
3. picture1
4. password
5. 12345678
6. 111111
7. 123123
8. 12345
9. 1234567890
10. senha
11. 1234567
12. qwerty
13. abc123
14. Million2
15. 000000
16. 1234
17. iloveyou
18. aaron431
19. password1
20. qqww1122

In this day and age, data breaches and cyberattacks are still a possible threat, more so for enterprises/businesses. But, this is also indicative of how a simple unique variation in passwords or making them complex goes a long way in online security for your various accounts. All of the aforementioned passwords were exposed more than 100,000 times. It is also advised to used 2 factory authentication with any service that offers it for added security.

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The US Commerce Department recently stated that it would “vigorously defend” an executive order that seeks to ban all transactions made with the Chinese owned short video sharing platform, TikTok. This statement arrived after a federal judge halted the action.

According to a Reuters report, the commerce department stated that it intends to “comply with the injunction … but intends to vigorously defend the (executive order) and the Secretary’s implementation efforts from legal challenges.” Back in October, the US District Judge Wendy Beetlestone blocked the Commerce Department’s order that was set to take effect on 12th November 2020. This order would’ve effectively banned TikTok, which is owned by ByteDance, from operating in the US

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The Trump administration had also called out the social media application as a national security threat, with personal data being collected of over 100 million Americans that use the app. TikTok has strongly denied the allegations. Beetlestone’s noted that the “government’s own descriptions of the national security threat posed by the TikTok app are phrased in the hypothetical.”

Furthermore, another US District Judge Carl Nichols issued a preliminary injunction in a suit brought by ByteDance that also prevented the Commerce Department from ordering Apple and Google from removing the app from their respective app stores. At the moment, ByteDance is in talks for preliminary deals with Walmart and Oracle, either of which would oversee TikTok’s US operations. In other words, keep the app grounded within the US, which is something the US President himself approves of.

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Canon has recently been hit with a ransomware attack. It has affected a number of its services, including Canon’s email, Microsoft Teams, company’s USA website, and other internal applications as well.

BleepingComputer had reported on the incident after tracking an outage on Canon’s image.canon cloud photo and video storage service. This resulted in the loss of data worth 10TB for users that utilized the storage feature. The outage occurred on 30th July 2020 and lasted over six days. Meanwhile, the site would display status updates until it went back in service on 4th August 2020.

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Furthermore, an internal source reached out to BleepingComputer, sharing an image of a company wide notification. This message was titled “Message from IT Service Center,” which was sent by Canon’s IT department. According to this message, Canon was experiencing a “wide spread system issues affecting multiple applications, Teams, Email, and other systems may not be available at this time.”

A number of Canon domains were also affected by the cyberattack, while an alleged ransom note had been discovered soon after. The attack was from the Maze ransomware, who stated that they stole, “10 terabytes of data, private databases, etc,” for their attack on Canon. Although, Maze also revealed that the image.canon outage was not caused by them. Maze has stolen unencrypted files from servers and backups and has harvested the network of anything of value and gain access to a Windows domain controller. They have also been responsible for other high profile attacks in the past as well, so we will have to wait and see how the situation develops further.

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A recent report has revealed that the Samsung Galaxy A71 5G will launch with a Quantum Encryption chip technology in South Korea. The world’s largest smartphone brand was previously tipped to launch the first smartphone equipped with a quantum encryption chip, so this device might feature the technology.

According to reports from South Korean news agencies, Samsung and SK Telecom are gearing up for the launch of a smartphone equipped with Quantum technology chip for encryption. The device in question is expected to be announced in May 2020 and will be found in the Samsung Galaxy A71 5G. The South Korean tech giant will be integrating the Quantum encryption chip into the motherboard of the handset (with reports also claiming a rebranding to Samsung Galaxy Quantum).

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For those unaware, the Quantum encryption chip technology enhances the smartphone’s data protection. In other words, it improves the security of the device and helps in better protecting sensitive data held within a device. Furthermore, it will make it harder for hackers to steal data from your handset.

Samsung smartphone that arrives with the new Quantum encryption chip will have their data encrypted in the form of random numbers. So even if the hacker attempts to read the memory, he would have to first pass the chip’s certification process before getting an approval. Similar to Samsung, even Sony has been reportedly working on the inclusion of Quantum encryption technology in its products.

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(Via)

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Vivo’s latest launch conference was held earlier today (10th March 2020). In the event, the main highlighting launch was for the Vivo NEX 3S. However, alongside the new smartphone, the company also unveiled a new minimalistic browser called NEX browser.

The NEX minimalist browser is based on the chromium kernel and aims to provide a smoother and clutter free experience to users. It features a fairly simple UI which offers a clean visual experience. Vivo’s NEX browser can be used via text search and voice searches as well. But one of its most useful features is the built in adblocker.

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Nowadays, advertisements on the internet have become increasingly more aggressive and tend to steal focus away from the main content being viewed. However, the Vivo NEX browser helps in offerings an advertisement free user experience. This is a very convenient feature and could potentially also keep users from harm.

For those unaware, certain adware found online or on certain websites may even contain malware that could disrupt the functioning of your phone. In worst case scenarios user’s may mistakenly download ransomware, which would have users pay a required sum of money to attackers to receive the precious data on one’s smartphone.

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(Via)

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In a world moving more towards digital technology all around us, safety and online safety is becoming a more prominent concern. But now, even sounds aren’t safe as researchers managed to hack into smartphones using ultrasonic waves passed through a table, on which a smartphone was laying.

This was achieved by a team at Washington University St Louis. The members of the project guided ultrasonic waves to trick the voice assistant into performing various tasks. For those unaware, smartphones are capable of detecting such sounds/vibrations at frequencies inaudible to general humans. Through this, the team managed to make calls, take pictures, adjust volume and even get the passwords via text messages.

The most notable aspect of the entire process was that the device was not accessed via a common network or physical connection. Rather, it was just kept on a table. So, even keeping it on a flat surface is now a dangerous thing, including flat surfaces made out of glass, wood, and metal. The researchers achieved this by attaching a microphone and piezoelectric transducer to the bottom of the table.

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This allowed them to generate a waveform near the device to reproduce relevant signals. The software used has dubbed as the Surfing Attack software and researchers found that 15 of the 17 total smartphones are affected by this exploit. The handsets were from different brands and included Google, Motorola, Samsung, Xiaomi, and Apple models.

Thus, the researchers concluded by stating methods to protect your devices from such attacks. With the foremost solution being, using a thicker case to cover the smartphone. This makes it harder for the hack to occur in the first place. A cover like a tablecloth on the table or the flat surface also works against the hack. Turning off lock screen personal results on Android devices helps prevent this as well.

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(Via)

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Smartphones have become an increasingly integral part of modern lives. Apart from the various necessary functions it serves, a smartphone also holds data important to a user. Thus, to improve upon the security of this important data Xiaomi is testing a new security feature on the MIUI 11.

Currently, Xiaomi is testing a brand new security feature to warn a user when a certain app is using sensitive permissions. It is being tested in the MIUI 11 custom skin which is basically the successor to the MIUI 10, which is currently in circulation. MIUI 11 is in the beta program and is available to anyone who wishes to opt in for it as well.

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The new feature is called “App Behavior Records” in the MIUI 11. Basically, it logs what permissions an app is utilizing or tacking whether it opens a different app in the background. According to official notes, the above mentioned actions lead to certain “sensitive actions” being performed like:

• Recording audio in the background
• Accessing calendar events
• Accessing call history
• Making a phone call
• Taking photos or recording videos
• Accessing or saving items to the clipboard
• Accessing contacts
• Accessing your location
• Reading your text messages
• Accessing sensor data
• Accessing activity info
• Accessing device info
• Reading your phone number
• Accessing or saving files in the background

The entire process starts when an app after being launched, simultaneously, chain launches other apps and utilizes sensitive permissions to perform the aforementioned sensitive actions. As of right now, users have the option to receive such notifications and can still opt to mute it. The new feature is much appreciate and we ook forward to what more it could lead to in the near future. Unfortunately, it is still being tested and will not be immediately available for the live MIUI 11 build.

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(Via)

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According to a new report, celebrities that include A-list actors, idols and other famous individuals are susceptible to blackmail by malicious hackers. The danger to the widely known men and women stems from a vulnerability found in Samsung‘s flagship Galaxy series of smartphones.

Reportedly, hackers can gain access to any celebrities’ handset, which gives them access to private messages. images, videos and much more. Once they acquire sensitive data regarding those popular groups, the data can be held for ransom. In other words, hackers that intend to do harm can access personal data from celebrities and demand money in return.

Not complying with the illegal hackers could mean that the criminals upload their data for the public to see. This would be extremely harmful to a famous individual’s career and livelihood. South Korea is a country filled with many idols, K-Pop stars, actors and others, so a big scandalous leak could mean the downfall for many such people.

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As per reporting South Korean journalists, the hackers that have targetted celebrities all have one thing on common that pointed at the method through which data was leaked. It is that they were all in possession of a Samsung Galaxy smartphone. Unfortunately, no official confirmation from the brand has been made regarding the solidity of these reports.

Notably, many are drawing the comparison to the dilemma faced by Hollywood celebrities which faced a similar hacking issue but with Apple iPhones. Thus, many are also drawing conclusions regarding the integrity of many popular cloud storage systems like iCloud, rather than the smartphones themselves.

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(Source)

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In recent times, many developers and publishers ranging from online service providers to even gaming studios have started offering two-factor authentication. And what they all stated and everyone is led to believe is that it makes one’s account, system, smartphone, etc, more secure. However, it seems like that is not the case.

According to a new report, a Chinese hacker group called APT20 has managed to bypass the commonly used security methods without settings off any alarms. In other words, the group has circumvented the means for two-factor authentication which makes the security method vulnerable.

Reportedly, APT20 used what Fox-IT has labeled “Operation Wocao” to achieve this feat. Previously, the group managed to hack web servers but have now shifted focus. APT20 used an RSA SecurID software which was stolen from a hacked account to circumvent through the two-factor verification methods. In simpler terms, the group used a stolen and modified key from a hacked account to make their hack seem valid to the security systems.

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Through this method, APT20 also managed to fool other systems to show valid results. Since two-factor authentication relies on different systems, it means that if the group manages to hack one side, then they can manage to make the other system agree to its modified key as well. Thus, allowing them to either steal or not need a key in the first place.

As of right now, no solution for the latest exploit is currently available. But, it does not mean that the system is completely flawed and insecure. The report also details various methods through which the dual verification process can be made more independent and less reliant on one another.

Notably, Chinese citizens are at higher risks apparently due to the group being allegedly linked to the Chinese Government. It seems more plausible now as the group is actively targetting VPN systems. A VPN is basically used to access outside data or websites that the nation censors or doesn’t allow its people to access freely.

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(Source)

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Huawei, the smartphone manufacturer, has faced multiple issues and allegations from different western Governments over the past one year. These accusations are generally related to security and information and have seen it receive a ban in the US and issues in its European region of operations as well.

Now, the Chinese tech giant is facing more problems, but this time in Eastern Europe, in the Czech Republic; as amidst the disputes regarding Huawei’s security threat, the country’s Cybersecurity Chief has just been fired.

According to a new report, Dusan Navratil, who became the first director of the National Cyber and Information security Agency (also knows as Nukib), has just been fired by the leading Government. This arrives after he was alleged to lack experience, managerial skills, and communication expertise for the job. Reportedly, the Czech Government unanimously agreed to the dismissal of Navratil, who also served as head of the National Security Authority for 10 years.

Navratil said he was “surprised” over this sudden dismissal by the Prime Minister and has refused to comment further on the situation. The cybersecurity chief was known for being involved in a year-long controversy over his December 2018 reports that condemned Chinese brands like Huawei and ZTE for being national security threats.

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After the report, Government agencies were banned from using Huawei smartphones by the Prime Minister, Babis, but ordered more evidence for the accusation. Since then, a Nukib spokesperson has denied any ties or pressures from the US Government regarding the decision against Huawei; citing, “it surprised the US authorities as much as it surprised Huawei.”

It is still unclear if the dismissal of the Navratil is based on his allegations against Huawei, which is expanding in Europe to better take on its western competitors. According to Cui Hongjian, the director of China Institute of International Studies think tank, Huawei has been in a chaotic position in the Czech Republic which is also indicative of the broader trend in Europe regarding the company and 5G networking as a whole.

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The short video making app, TikTok, is facing a lawsuit charge which claims that it harvests users’ data and sends it back to China. Reportedly, American users of the app have come forward with numerous allegations regarding its recent censorship misconduct as well. The Chinese social networking platform has denied these claims as it faces a national security probe in Washington.

Last week, a consumer class action lawsuit was filed against TikTok in California, USA. ByteDance, the Beijing-based company behind TikTok, is facing charges for harvesting user data without notice or consent and sending it back to China. Furthermore, it was also claimed in the lawsuit that the app “includes Chinese surveillance software.” This allowed it to access user data and send it to Chinese servers, including those run by Tencent and Alibaba Group Holdings.

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This arrives after a user in New Jersey was locked out of her TikTok account after posting a video spreading awareness of Beijing’s mass detention of Uighurs in Xinjiang. TikTok removed the video once it went viral and later claimed it was by mistake. Currently, TikTok’s parent company, ByteDance, is facing pressure from the US Government, facing an investigation by the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States. CFIUS could force ByteDance to divest TikTok’s US operations if it is found that the company poses a national-security threat.

In the west, there is a pattern of increasing distrust over Chinese brands or those backed by Chinese companies. Huawei is one such example that faced similar allegations during the US-China trade disputes. Recently, TikTok claimed that it stores its US user data within the country and does not censor political content in line with Beijing’s instructions. Furthermore, ByteDance is reportedly considering moves to distance the TikTok brand from China.

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Data security has been a burning topic in recent times especially as the industry begins to migrate to 5G connectivity technology. Recently, researchers from Boston University (BU) detected a vulnerability in several high-profile Bluetooth devices. The vulnerability could allow third-parties to determine your location and other sensitive information. The fear is that this could be exploited by persons with sinister intentions to extract information that could be used for stalking or abuse. With Bluetooth devices almost everywhere, this finding should be of concern to you.

The susceptibility has to do with the way Bluetooth-enabled gadgets pair with one another. one device serves as the central connection and the other plays a peripheral role. The peripheral device sends out a signal that contains a unique address — similar to an IP address — and data about the connection. Most devices produce a randomized address which automatically reconfigures periodically. That’s meant to protect users’ privacy, but the BU researchers found that, using an open-source “sniffer” algorithm, they could identify Bluetooth connections even when their addresses changed.

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Despite being susceptible to attack, individual information is not revealed. However, that lacuna could be used to follow Bluetooth gadgets and their clients. Android may get a go here. The scientists state Android gadgets don’t have all the earmarks of being defenceless, however, Windows 10 and iOS gadgets can be followed.

Of particular concern is Fitbit users’ vulnerability clients which are said to be the worst. According to the researchers, Fitbits don’t automatically update or randomize their addresses, making them even easier to track. However, a Fitbit spokesperson has responded to an inquiry about this by Engadget. He stated: “As the leader in connected health and fitness category, Fitbit is committed to protecting consumer privacy and keeping data safe. The trust of our customers is paramount and we carefully design security measures for new products, continuously monitor for new threats, and rapidly respond to identified issues.”

The company also said that Fitbit devices aren’t able to share personally identifiable information for any users and that it believes it would be extremely difficult to actually stalk someone using this method. “Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) technology is widespread and allows all types of devices to connect easily without draining battery power. It’s important to note that this technology can only be used to confirm that an active tracker is nearby. No personally identifiable information is shared or accessible. It’s highly unlikely that someone could stumble across a particular device, know who it belongs to, and track the device’s movement,” the company’s statement says. Nevertheless, the company is also monitoring the situation carefully.

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