Apple

Symantec has recently observed phishing scams targeting Apple iPhones in order to gain serial numbers, IMEI, model, and capacity, etc. What is an IMEI? An IMEI (international mobile equipment identity) is a 15-digit unique number used by GSM networks to identify valid devices. Every GSM, WCDMA, or iDEN mobile phone (and even the odd satellite phone) has an IMEI. It can be found under the battery of the device or by typing *#06# on the mobile. If your phone or device is lost or stolen you can report it to your service provider, providing the IMEI number. The service provider can then blacklist the IMEI number, rendering the device unusable in that country. ...

At the BlackHat DC conference and SchmooCon, Nicolas Seriot, an independent researcher and Tyler Shields of Veracode have independently presented two very similar papers. The papers analyse weaknesses in security and application delivery models for iPhone and Blackberry and provide interesting read, especially if you are looking to write the next spyware application or a bot for one of the platforms. ...

New, shiny products always tend to catch people’s attention, and spammers are continually looking for ways to do exactly that. So it’s not surprising to see spam tempting people with the promise of a new iPad, and a FREE one at that: The image they’ve used is very sketchy too, patched together from other existing Apple products and bearing little resemblance to the pictures released so far. ...

(CNET) — Who could resist the months of hype that paved the way for Apple’s iPad debut last week? Apparently not Google, which has shown its interest in tablet computing with its browser-based Chrome OS. On Monday, Glen Murphy, a user interface designer for Google’s Chrome browser and the Chrome operating system based on it, pointed to image and video concepts of a Chrome OS-based tablet that went live two days before the iPad launch. Apparently nobody noticed initially, because only now did Murphy tweet, “Apparently our tablet mocks have been unearthed.” The site also shows the array of devices Google envisions for Chrome OS. “While its primary focus is Netbooks, Chrome OS could eventually scale to a wide variety of devices. Each would have vastly different input methods, available screen space, and processing power,” according to the Chromium form factors site. Chromium is the name of the open-source developer project that underlies the branded Chrome product. It’s possible that Chrome OS could be an easier sell on tablets than on Netbooks, the class of device on which Google said it plans to launch Chrome OS. Netbooks often are used as general-purpose PCs, so the browser-based philosophy of Chrome OS is a more jarring transition. Today’s tablets, in contrast, tend to focus more on a collection of specialized uses such as reading books, surfing the Net, and chores that only require light typing. With that approach, Chrome OS’ break from the PC world could be less jarring. The tablet market isn’t as big as the Netbook market, though. The ideas are only mock-ups, but Google has established itself as a real if not dominant force in the computing industry. Its Android mobile-phone operating system is increasingly influential, and its Chrome browser continues to steadily grow in usage. The tablet mock-ups show a variety of Chrome OS tablet ideas, including a virtual keyboard taking up the bottom half of the screen or detached and floating as a separate window. Also included are a slideshow mode, an application launcher, sidebar-mounted browser tabs, and a pop-up contextual menu. The video mock-up shows a much larger tablet, with hands resizing and moving windows through the multitouch interface, scrolling through text, and typing a search query. It’s all very rough at this stage, but none of it is too remote from a multitouch-enabled version of the Chrome OS. Google plans to debut Chrome OS in Netbooks later this year, and development of the open-source operating system is well under way. In a statement, Google didn’t share any specifics about its plans: “Google Chrome OS is still in development, and we are constantly experimenting with various user interfaces to determine what designs would produce the best user experience. As we’ve said all along, the UI is still under development and will continue to evolve as we determine which designs work best for our users.” Computing companies have been trying to make tablets for years, with little success. Apple hopes its design will change that with its iPad selling from $499 to $829. It’s more of an iPhone with a large screen than a MacBook with no keyboard. Google is taking a different approach with Chrome OS. Instead of programs running straight on the computer’s hardware and its underlying Linux operating system, Chrome OS applications run directly in the browser. What’s similar to the iPad, though, is that both have somewhat of an applications head start compared with a computing platform that’s starting from scratch: the iPad can run existing iPhone apps, and Chrome OS can run existing Web applications such as Google Docs. One thing that’s changed since early tablet years is the arrival of e-book readers as a real phenomenon. Amazon’s Kindle is the most notable example, but there are others, and Apple touted book reading with the iPad. Google, it should be noted, has a conduit to millions of books via its Google Books service. Given that Apple chose to use a variation of its iPhone OS for the iPad, it’s interesting but not terribly surprising that Google chose to use Chrome OS rather than its phone operating system, Android. In the big picture, Google clearly hopes the browser will be the foundation for applications, letting them run more easily on a multitude of devices. Android uses a variation of Oracle’s Java technology as a program foundation. Perhaps ironically, Java was launched with the motto for programmers of “write once, run anywhere,” and it is that vision Google is trying to realize with Web applications. ...

This week we’ve seen a spam campaign aimed at separating unsuspecting users from their iPhone details. Messages have the subject “IMPORTANT: Your iPhone Warranty Extension for 1 Year!”, pretend to be sent from “[email protected]”, and look as follows (click to enlarge the image): Recipients who feel like they can’t let this limited-time too-good-to-be-true special offer pass them by will find themselves redirected to the following page: ...

The third version of Firefox has emerged as the most successful leader in the browser category of all alternatives to Internet Explorer. Since the official launch of its first release in mid 2008 has not only grown in use but also in popularity, although during this time there was a launch of the greatest threat that has known so far, Google Chrome. That is why, people from Mozilla are working hard to beat newcomer in the race to become the most popular browser. It is true that the current “saga” still has to cut fabric, then Firefox 3.6 It is planned for early 2010, and Firefox 3.7 will happen a few months later, respectively including versions 1.9.2 and 1.9.3 Gecko engine. ...

It’s the time of year to make predictions. I only have one: in 2010, governments around the world will BEGIN to increase their efforts to do something about the massive malware threat that every Internet user on the planet faces. It’s going to be controversial and difficult legally and technically. It’s going to cost serious tax money, political capital and diplomatic work to counter this crime wave that is like nothing the world has ever known. ...

Earlier this evening, Microsoft formally announced a new search app for iPhone on the Bing Community blog. The Bing app is available now from the App Store, complete with voice search. I emphasize the now because the app has a December 16 release date on the 15th. Based on a very quick, cursory look, Bing is a competent iPhone app, tapping into the kind of capabilities expected from the platform. Bing fits nicely into the App Store repertoire. I wouldn’t call the features revolutionary — Apple and Google are there already with advanced mapping and GPS — but the packaging appeals, and Microsoft manages to offer a user experience that is fairly consistent with Bing Web search. ...

Email is still the most common method used for security update notifications from all major vendors, but it is also the most commonly used trigger for launching the chain of infection attacks by malware writers. When I came to work today I found in my Inbox a message from Microsoft with the Security Bulletin Advance Notification for December. I immediately clicked on one of the links to visit the yet to be published December Security Bulletin and investigate how many critical vulnerabilities will be fixed this month. ...