Apple releases iOS 14.5 and iPadOS 14.5

• Unlock iPhone with Apple Watch
– Ability to unlock your ‌iPhone‌ X and later with Apple Watch Series 3 and later when you attempt to use Face ID while wearing a face mask

• AirTag and Find My
– Support for AirTag to keep track of and find your important items like your keys, wallet, backpack and more, privately and securely in the Find My app
– Precision Finding uses visual, audible, and haptic feedback to guide you directly to your nearby AirTag using Ultra Wideband provided by the U1 chip on iPhone 11 and ‌iPhone 12‌ models
– AirTag can be located by playing a sound via the built-in speaker – The ‌Find My‌ network with hundreds of millions of devices can help you find your AirTag, even when it isn’t nearby
– Lost Mode notifies you when your AirTag is found, and you can enter a phone number where you can be contacted

• Siri
– ‌Siri‌ now includes more diverse voice options – Incoming calls can be announced with ‌Siri‌, including who is calling, when you’re wearing your ‌AirPods‌ or compatible Beats headphones, and you can answer hands-free
– Group FaceTime calls are supported by asking ‌Siri‌ to ‌FaceTime‌ a list of contacts or a group name from Messages
– Emergency contacts can be called by asking ‌Siri

• Privacy
– App Tracking Transparency lets you control which apps are allowed to track your activity across other companies’ apps and websites for ads or sharing with data brokers

PSA: Update your Mac to macOS 11.3 immediately to protect against ‘worst hack in years’
Tuesday, April 27, 2021 5:23 pm
Apple on Monday released macOS 11.3 and, if you have not yet done so, you should update your Mac to macOS 11.3 immediately to protect against “worst hack in years.” Patrick Wardle, a former NSA analyst and a macOS security expert, has described it as one of the worst security issues to have ever hit the Apple operating system.
Thomas Brewster for Forbes:
Malicious hackers can and have created malware that, though unsigned, is misclassified by Apple’s operating system, thanks to a logic error in macOS’ code. That means malware can skip all the checks done by Apple’s security mechanisms like Gatekeeper and File Quarantine, which are designed to stop any unapproved, dangerous apps from running.
There’s one caveat: The hackers have to convince a user to download or run an app that’s not in the App Store or allowed by Apple. But once that’s done, the malware won’t be stopped installing by the Mac’s defensive tools, though macOS should stop any changes to critical system files and ask the user if the app can access photos, the mic or other systems. For anyone still running an unpatched macOS, Wardle’s advice was simple: “Don’t open anything from anybody.”
It affects all recent versions of macOS but Apple has released a patch that prevents the attacks. Version Big Sur 11.3 is available now and contains other fixes besides addressing this bug.
An Apple spokesperson said the company has now addressed the issue in macOS 11.3 and updated XProtect, its malware detection, to block the malware using this technique. That XProtect update will happen automatically and retroactively apply to older versions of macOS.
MacDailyNews Take: Again, if you haven’t already, update now. Choose System Preferences from the Apple menu , then click Software Update to check for updates, and click the Update Now button.

However, as they just told everyone, the hackers have to convince the potential victims to download this malware from a non-trusted site and install it.

They also informed you that Apple has pushed out an update to the built-in X-Protect to every MacOS computer on line, which is done within 24 hours of Apple having a solution finished and having tested that solution to make sure it does indeed block the attack.

The upshot is that we know Apple has now sent out blocking definitions to prevent this malware from being downloaded, installed or run (unless the user is industrial strength stupid and over-rides the malware alerts at each step), so the up-grade imperative is not quite so important as these journalists make it seem. — Swordmaker

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