Posts Tagged: protection

How to turn on Stolen Device Protection on your iPhone to secure your data

Apple’s Stolen Device Protection is a new feature that protects iPhone data and makes it harder for thieves to wreak havoc. Introduced in iOS 17.3, the feature requires a combination of Face ID (or Touch ID) scans and time delays before using payment features or changing account security when the device is away from familiar locations. Here’s precisely how Stolen Device Protection works.

What is Stolen Device Protection for iPhone

Stolen Device Protection takes a bad situation — someone stealing your iPhone — and reduces the chance of it spiraling into something much worse. When activated, the feature will prompt you to perform a biometric scan (Face ID or Touch ID) when you’re away from familiar locations, like home or work. In those situations, it won’t allow you (or an iPhone snatcher) to use your passcode as a backup method. It also incorporates time delays for some security-related features.

The tool may have been inspired by a Wall Street Journal report from early 2023 about an increasingly common practice of thieves spying on users while entering their passcode — right before snatching the phone and taking off.

If the perp has both the phone and its passcode (without Stolen Device Protection activated), they could reset the Apple ID password, turn off Find My, possibly steal payment info or passwords and factory reset the iPhone. If they’re experts, they could theoretically do all that within minutes (if not seconds) before you can log onto Find My and report your device as lost.

With Stolen Device Protection turned on, a thief in the same situation would be largely stymied. Requiring Face ID or Touch ID and time delays would prevent them from accessing your passwords and payment information, changing security features (to lock you out and further hijack your device) and factory resetting it. This gives you precious time to find another device, report your phone as lost in Find My, change your password and file a police report.

How does it work?

Stolen Device Protection requires a biometric (Face ID / Touch ID) scan — without the passcode as a backup option — for the following situations when your phone is away from your familiar locations:

  • Turning off Lost Mode

  • Performing a factory reset (“Erase all content and settings”)

  • Using or stealing saved passwords or passkeys for online accounts

  • Using payment methods saved for “autofill” in Safari

  • Using your phone to activate a new Apple device (Quick Start)

  • Viewing your Apple Card’s virtual card number

  • Applying for a new Apple Card

  • “Certain Apple Cash and Savings actions in Wallet” (examples include transferring money to or from Apple Cash or Savings)

In addition, the following actions require an extra time delay. With Stolen Device Protection activated, if someone away from your familiar locations tried to do anything on the list below, they would have to perform a Face ID (or Touch ID) scan, wait an hour and authenticate again with a second biometric scan:

  • Turning off Find My

  • Turning off Stolen Device Protection

  • Changing your Apple ID password

  • Signing out of your Apple ID

  • Adding or removing Face ID or Touch ID

  • Changing your phone’s passcode

  • Changing Apple ID account security (examples include creating a Recovery Key / Recovery Contact or adding / removing a trusted device)

  • Resetting all the phone’s settings

One thing missing from the list is Apple Pay. Someone with your stolen iPhone and passcode could still make Apple Pay purchases using only your passcode, which isn’t ideal.

How to turn on Stolen Device Protection

Before activating the feature, make sure your device is updated to iOS 17.3 (or higher). Head to Settings > General > Software Update on your iPhone to check for updates and ensure you’re on the latest software. (If your device is stuck on pre-iOS 17 software and won’t update past that, your model is too old to run the latest software.)

Once you’re running (at least) iOS 17.3, do the following on your iPhone:

  1. Open the Settings app

  2. Scroll down and tap Face ID & Passcode (it will be called Touch ID & Passcode on older models and the iPhone SE)

  3. Enter your passcode

  4. Scroll down until you see Stolen Device Protection

  5. Tap Turn On Protection

If you ever want to deactivate the feature, follow the same steps — except you’d tap Turn Off Protection in step five. It would perform a Face ID or Touch ID scan to confirm the change.

For more on the latest iPhone features, you can check out Engadget’s review of the latest models and our in-depth review of iOS 17.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/how-to-turn-on-stolen-device-protection-on-your-iphone-to-secure-your-data-182721345.html?src=rss
Engadget is a web magazine with obsessive daily coverage of everything new in gadgets and consumer electronics

Surfshark VPN review: Basic protection for all of your devices

Most people want a VPN for security, and power users will want all of their tech protected. That means getting a VPN that can handle multiple phones, laptops, smart TVs, gaming consoles and other tech with an internet connection simultaneously. Out of the nine VPN services we tested, Surfshark came out on top when it came to protecting multiple devices. Here’s a rundown of our experience with Surfshark.

Surfshark VPN pricing and features

Surfshark VPN has three membership tiers: Starter, One and One+. Starter promises a secure VPN, an ad blocker and a pop-up blocker, while the other two tiers layer on additional features. I tested out Surfshark One, so in addition to the perks of the Starter tier, I had access to an antivirus scanner, data-breach monitoring and the option to create an Alternative ID, a beta feature that can create an alias for you. With this, you can have a fake name, home address and email to use when you want to mask your identity on sites that you feel are suspect. On top of all that, Surfshark has its own secure search engine that’s billed as a more private version of Google.

Paying for Surfshark One+, the most expensive tier, guarantees that your data will be removed from search sites and company databases, on top of everything that the One tier gives you. Surfshark One+ costs about $ 4-5 a month (depending on the sales the company has going on), which is fairly affordable in the VPN world, so it may be worth it to dish out the extra few dollars to go from Starter to One+ for the additional features.

I enjoyed Surfshark One’s features and think most people will be served well by this middle tier. Checking for possible email breaches with Surfshark was a breeze; it took less than 30 seconds to scan my inbox and tell me whether my email had been spotted in a data breach. The antivirus runs had different speeds depending on what device I used: quick scans could take less than five minutes, but would only scan a little over 1,000 files. Full scans could scan over a million files on my MacBook and Google Pixel 7 phone in about 10 minutes.

Surfshark VPN
Surfshark

Surfshark VPN setup and streaming capabilities

Setting up Surfshark was easy on most of my devices: I needed to download the app, sign in and Surfshark automatically connected me to a server close to my current location. If you would like to explore the other servers, that needs to be done manually. For devices like my Fire TV, I was able to enter in a login code from my MacBook and was then automatically signed into my account. With my Pixel 7, MacBook, Fire TV, and work laptop all connected simultaneously, I was able to run four devices seamlessly without any major errors, and I didn’t experience any bandwidth issues after adding additional devices.

I stream a lot of movies and TV shows regularly, so I want to be able to switch from Netflix to Peacock to Max and the like with no interruption and jump into content immediately. It took Surfshark a few tries to keep up with me. Watching the finale of Only Murders in the Building seemed impossible since Hulu wouldn’t load titles at first. On second try, I could play an episode but it took a few minutes of being on the site for thumbnail images to load. After another try, I could finally watch the show on my laptop with no hiccups. 

Things got smoother over time, and I only experienced consistent issues like this with Disney-owned services like Hulu. When it comes to international content, it’s usually easier to access those catalogs with Netflix while on a VPN, but the service was a bit more selective when I used Surfshark. The streamer didn’t catch on when I tried to watch Spy x Family on Japanese Netflix, but it blocked me once I tried to watch Marie Antoinette on Italian Netflix.

Surfshark is also available on smart TVs and game consoles, but features like antivirus sweeps, Alternative ID and Surfshark Alert are not available on those devices. Smart TVs only have the capabilities of the most basic Surfshark tier, with a couple other features like an ad blocker and the option to have some apps bypass the VPN. Gaming consoles are only connected to the VPN through your router or through a virtual router on your PC, so as long as the console is connected to the Wi-Fi, you should be protected. 

Unfortunately, as someone who owns a MacBook and a proprietary Verizon router, protecting my PS5 was a bit more complicated than I anticipated. While Surfshark provides helpful tips to connect its VPN to a proprietary router, doing so can void your warranty or even make it so your router no longer works. With all of those caveats, it almost felt like leaving my console unprotected was the better option.

Surfshark Search

Browsing the web while using Surfshark VPN was a smooth experience, save for the fact that I had to confirm I wasn’t a bot every time I Googled something. To bypass that, you can use Surfshark Search, the only VPN-provided search engine that comes with the One and One+ membership tiers. This feature works on Surfshark’s mobile and desktop apps and isn’t as intuitive as Google, but promises an ad-free and tracking-free search experience.

With Surfshark Search, I wasn’t bombarded with sponsored search results when I looked something up, but I did get more general answers overall. Surfshark’s tool couldn’t give me specific details on an actor when I searched them and I had to go digging for any decent photos. The service tried to anticipate what I wanted to search, but Google’s autocomplete predictions are much more advanced. 

For example, if I wanted to know how old an actor is, Google would give me their age immediately before even completing the search, and put their age and birth date at the top of the search results. Surfshark Search just defaults to the individual’s Wikipedia page. If you care most about privacy and a tracking-free search experience, these are some of the conveniences you’ll have to leave behind. Also, it’s worth noting that Surfshark’s search engine isn’t the only option if you want to search with more privacy; DuckDuckGo has become more widely available in recent years and is free to use.

Surfshark VPN
Surfshark VPN

Surfshark VPN security capabilities

Surfshark passed our basic security tests: there were no DNS, WebRTC or IP leaks while using the VPN. Since Consumer Report’s full VPN report, Surfshark has now implemented multi-factor authentication to their accounts. While it is not something you’re prompted to set up right away, you can still go in and add that to your account. Compared to others like NordVPN, Tunnelbear and ExpressVPN, Surfshark seems to offer similar security and features for a cheaper price.

That said, despite our lack of bandwidth issues across several devices, Surfshark remains one of the slower VPN options compared to Tunnelbear and Bitdefender. Also, if you ever decide to switch VPNs, it’s not super easy to leave Surfshark. Contacting customer service seems to be the only way to have them delete your data or cancel your subscription. With no option to easily cancel your subscription yourself, this feels like a major red flag and something we would not want to deal with ourselves.

Surfshark VPN: Final thoughts

Overall, Surfshark VPN is a solid option when it comes to protection and reliability. However, if you’re going to use it for things like streaming shows, movies and games, this might not be the VPN for you. As an alternative, you might prefer ExpressVPN, which we’ve voted the best for gaming and streaming. For a more multifaceted experience with strong protection and ease of use, we’ve found that ProtonVPN is the most balanced of them all. But if you want a relatively affordable VPN that handles multiple connected devices well, Surfshark is a decent option.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/surfshark-vpn-review-basic-protection-for-all-of-your-devices-170022711.html?src=rss

Engadget is a web magazine with obsessive daily coverage of everything new in gadgets and consumer electronics

The best iPhone 13 Mini cases and covers: picks for protection, MagSafe, more

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An update on kids and data protection on YouTube

Responsibility is our number one priority at YouTube, and nothing is more important than protecting kids and their privacy. We’ve been significantly investing in the policies, products and practices to help us do this. From its earliest days, YouTube has been a site for people over 13, but with a boom in family content and the rise of shared devices, the likelihood of children watching without supervision has increased. We’ve been taking a hard look at areas where we can do more to address this, informed by feedback from parents, experts, and regulators, including COPPA concerns raised by the U.S. Federal Trade Commission and the New York Attorney General that we are addressing with a settlement announced today.

New data practices for children’s content on YouTube

We are changing how we treat data for children’s content on YouTube. Starting in about four months, we will treat data from anyone watching children’s content on YouTube as coming from a child, regardless of the age of the user. This means that we will limit data collection and use on videos made for kids only to what is needed to support the operation of the service. We will also stop serving personalized ads on this content entirely, and some features will no longer be available on this type of content, like comments and notifications. In order to identify content made for kids, creators will be required to tell us when their content falls in this category, and we’ll also use machine learning to find videos that clearly target young audiences, for example those that have an emphasis on kids characters, themes, toys, or games.

Improvements to YouTube Kids

We continue to recommend parents use YouTube Kids if they plan to allow kids under 13 to watch independently. Tens of millions of people use YouTube Kids every week but we want even more parents to be aware of the app and its benefits. We’re increasing our investments in promoting YouTube Kids to parents with a campaign that will run across YouTube. We’re also continuing to improve the product. For example, we recently raised the bar for which channels can be a part of YouTube Kids, drastically reducing the number of channels on the app. And we’re bringing the YouTube Kids experience to the desktop.

Investing in family creators

We know these changes will have a significant business impact on family and kids creators who have been building both wonderful content and thriving businesses, so we’ve worked to give impacted creators four months to adjust before changes take effect on YouTube. We recognize this won’t be easy for some creators and are committed to working with them through this transition and providing resources to help them better understand these changes.

We are also going to continue investing in the future of quality kids, family and educational content. We are establishing a $ 100 million fund, disbursed over three years, dedicated to the creation of thoughtful, original children’s content on YouTube and YouTube Kids globally.

Training our teams

Championing the protections we have in place for children is a shared responsibility across the company. To that end, we are introducing new, mandatory annual training for our teams about our requirements in this area.

Today’s changes will allow us to better protect kids and families on YouTube, and this is just the beginning. We’ll continue working with lawmakers around the world in this area, including as the FTC seeks comments on COPPA. And in the coming months, we’ll share details on how we’re rethinking our overall approach to kids and families, including a dedicated kids experience on YouTube. I have the privilege of working alongside parents who deeply care about protecting kids. We know how important it is to provide children, families and family creators the best experience possible on YouTube and we are committed to getting it right.

Susan Wojcicki


YouTube Blog

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Come comment on this article: Google begins rolling out spam protection for Messages

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40 of our favorite iPhone 6 cases for style and protection

No one likes a bruised Apple. Scratches, scuffs, and cracks on a new iPhone 6 are enough to ruin anyone’s day. Check out the best iPhone 6 cases and get some protection on that shiny new smartphone.

The post 40 of our favorite iPhone 6 cases for style and protection appeared first on Digital Trends.

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