Issues and Apples

 

 

 

                               

Apple once stated that there was no such thing as a virus for the Mac. That thought process bled over to all its devices and nowadays they are eating their words. They may be a well-oiled machine but they don’t get make statements like that anymore.

One of the recent hacks gets a user in by having Siri call a number and then opening the SIM card (taking it out), thus gaining the user access to photos and contact info.

Constant iOS updates have been implemented to fix bugs and patch security holes. The 6.1.3 update, which was meant to fix these security hacks, has now given us issues with Wi-Fi connectivity and battery drains. It seems every time they fix one issue they cause another. Frustrating, to say the least.

A major issue to consider is the virus Trojan.Yontoo.1. There are many avenues it can use to install; the preferred method is showing up as a movie trailer (in Adspace) that requires you to download a new media player or install a plug-in. Once clicked you are directed to a site and the virus downloads itself on your browsers (all of them) and copies your information as you work or browse data on your device. This is only the most recent of the larger viruses to attack an Apple OS and as they grow bigger Apple will find many more.

Finally, this last piece is not really virus or hack related but a call to action to improve iCloud. For everyday consumers iCloud works seamlessly. We download and upload to the cloud and feel safe that our data is stored. Well, consumers find it useful but App Developers have been wrestling with it for some time now.

Did you know that in order for Apple to promote a developers new App they must have the data stored in the iCloud? The problem is that Apple has an issue with Database syncing. When a developer tries to sync the new app to the cloud, data goes missing, and devices stop working. There has been no comment from Apple on this issue besides past statements of upgrading iOS. Hopefully iOS7 will offer a fix.

Until all is solved, we must realize that no technology is impenetrable. Every device can be hacked, destroyed or eavesdropped upon and it’s in our best interest to enhance our security and privacy as well as possible. The fact is that Apple, Microsoft and Google will always have issues with their software and should never make statements that make them seem hypocritical.