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Today’s topics include Facebook easing user access to privacy tools, and Apple releasing iOS 11.3 and macOS 10.13.4 updates to improve security.
Following the data breach at the hands of Cambridge Analytica, Facebook is making it easier for its users to control privacy settings. A new menu item that says “Privacy Shortcuts” provides a central place to find and change what data Facebook is allowed to use.
What hasn’t yet changed, however, is Facebook’s privacy policies, allowing them to market users’ interests, likes and other personal data points.
Facebook’s Chief Privacy Officer Erin Egan and Deputy General Counsel Ashlie Beringer said, “In the coming weeks, we’ll be proposing updates to Facebook’s terms of service that include our commitments to people. We’ll also update our data policy to better spell out what data we collect and how we use it. These updates are about transparency—not about gaining new rights to collect, use, or share data.”
Apple released a set of security and feature updates on March 29 for its mobile iOS and desktop macOS operating systems.
In the iOS update, Apple patched a bug that could have triggered iOS devices to restart after receiving a malicious SMS text message. iOS 11.3 also includes a patch for a flaw in the “Find My iPhone” capability that allows users to track and locate misplaced devices. The flaw allowed a person with physical access to an iOS device to disable Find My iPhone without entering an iCloud password.
The security updates also address issues impacting both iOS and macOS, including a vulnerability in the shared Apple WindowServer component that could have logged user keystrokes.