Posts Tagged: secure

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

[Guide] How to secure your identity with 2fa security

2-Factor Authentication (2FA) or also known as multi-factor authentication, is an added layer of security that helps protect your account even if your password is compromised. Where a password acts as the key to the lock under the door handle, 2FA acts as an additional lock you have above handle. It’s an additional layer of […]

Come comment on this article: [Guide] How to secure your identity with 2fa security

Visit TalkAndroid

TalkAndroid

Congressional lawmakers try again to secure some benefits for gig workers

Senators Mark Warner (D-VA) and Todd Young (R-IN), along with Rep. Susan DelBene (D-WA) introduced a bill today that would create a $ 20 million pilot program with the Department of Labor to incentivize states and cities to test out portable benefits. The idea that benefits like health insurance and paid vacation should be universal, rather than tied to your job, has gained steam in recent years. Such social insurance programs, normally backed by Democrats, have sparked interest from some Republicans motivated by the rapidly changing workforce and economic climate following the pandemic.

“More Americans than ever are engaging in part-time, contract or other alternative work arrangements. As the workforce changes, it is increasingly important that we provide workers with an ability to access more flexible benefits that can be carried to multiple jobs across a day, a year, and even a career,” said Sen. Warner in a statement.

Under the bill, the Department of Labor would create a $ 20 million grant fund to incentivize states, cities and nonprofits to experiment with portable benefits for independent workers. It’s not the first time Warner and DelBene have introduced such legislation. The duo has been regularly pushing to pass portable benefits bills since 2017 — none of which have gotten very far. One of their measures, to provide states with emergency unemployment benefits for gig workers, was folded into the CARES Act.

The bill gives states and cities a lot of room to figure out what their portable benefits program will look like. This could include unemployment benefits, life and disability insurance, sick leave, worker training and health insurance.

A number of states such as California, Massachusetts, Illinois, New Jersey and Colorado have looked at implementing portable benefits programs of their own. But critics of portable benefits warn that such a system would mean that gig economy companies like Uber, Lyft, Doordash and others would be largely off the hook. Indeed, Uber and other gig companies have backed portable benefits legislation in their fight to continue to classify their workers as independent contractors.

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

[Deal is still live] Secure your data with a 3-year plan to CyberGhost VPN at just $2.25/month and get an extra 3 months free

It’s somehow fitting that our first Cyber Monday deal is for CyberGhost VPN that you can grab a three-year plan at just $ 2.25/£1.99 monthly, with an extra 3 months bundled in on top. With more than 36 million customers worldwide, CyberGhost VPN promises to keep your data safe from prying eyes and unblock geo-restricted websites […]

Come comment on this article: [Deal is still live] Secure your data with a 3-year plan to CyberGhost VPN at just $ 2.25/month and get an extra 3 months free

Visit TalkAndroid


TalkAndroid

The Essential team is back (without Andy Rubin) to make your phones more secure as OSOM

The team behind the Essential Phone is back at work, sort of. Essential is still gone, so don’t get your hopes up for a PH-2, but they might still have a hand in your next smartphone anyway. This time they’re focused on hardware and software security as a startup called OSOM, and they’re doing it […]

Come comment on this article: The Essential team is back (without Andy Rubin) to make your phones more secure as OSOM

Visit TalkAndroid


TalkAndroid

Google adds Nest Secure to its list of discontinued projects

Google will no longer manufacture and sell the Nest Secure alarm system it launched back in 2017. The tech giant has confirmed that it has discontinued the system to Android Police shortly after the Google Store product page for the Nest Guard was ma…
Engadget RSS Feed

Secure email service ProtonMail rolls out their new ProtonCalendar beta

If you’re invested into digital security, you might be familiar with ProtonMail. It’s a service that aims to make your email much more private by utilizing end-to-end encryption and keeps advertisers and the like from snooping in, and now they’re bringing that privacy focus into a calendar app. Appropriately titled ProtonCalendar, the service is the […]

Come comment on this article: Secure email service ProtonMail rolls out their new ProtonCalendar beta

Visit TalkAndroid


TalkAndroid

Secure messaging app Signal gets a fun update and adds (encrypted) stickers

Signal, the encrypted, highly secure messaging platform of choice for the privacy-minded, is joining the rest of the messaging world with brand new stickers. And don’t worry, these stickers are just as secured as the rest of Signal’s messaging. These stickers are highly requested features, since people don’t want to give up their fun just […]

Come comment on this article: Secure messaging app Signal gets a fun update and adds (encrypted) stickers

Visit TalkAndroid


TalkAndroid

[Guide] How to secure your WhatsApp messages by enabling Fingerprint Lock

Keeping your WhatsApp messages safe from prying eyes has meant that you needed to lock down your whole phone with access provided via the lock screen’s security, but not anymore. WhatsApp has just announced that you can now keep your messages hidden away while keeping the rest of the phone easily accessible, thanks to the […]

Come comment on this article: [Guide] How to secure your WhatsApp messages by enabling Fingerprint Lock

Visit TalkAndroid


TalkAndroid

Half of phishing sites trick you into thinking they’re ‘secure’

You can't assume that a site is honest because it has that "secure" padlock in the address bar, and PhishLabs just illustrated why. The anti-phishing company has determined that 49 percent of all known phishing sites used Secure Sockets Layer protec…
Engadget RSS Feed

[TA Deals] Secure your passwords with a discounted subscription to Password Boss

If you’re in the market for a password manager, you’ll want to take a glance at Password Boss. Not only is it a well-rounded password manager, but right now you can save up to 93% off the list price. Not a bad deal for never having to worry about your passwords ever again. It’s secure, […]

Come comment on this article: [TA Deals] Secure your passwords with a discounted subscription to Password Boss

Visit TalkAndroid


TalkAndroid

Tor axes its secure messaging app due to lack of resources

The Tor team unveiled its Messenger app in 2015 to boost the security of existing chat clients, but those plans are coming to an end less than three years later. The developers are ending support for Tor Messenger due primarily to a lack of support….
Engadget RSS Feed

Secure video calling is now available on encrypted messaging app Signal

In an effort to compete with other messaging services, Open Whisper System’s Signal — a secure chat service known for its commitment to privacy — now lets users make encrypted video calls.

The post Secure video calling is now available on encrypted messaging app Signal appeared first on Digital Trends.

Android Army–Digital Trends

Dubai launches ‘drone hunter’ to secure airport

When you are the third busiest airport in the world, you don’t need to mess with rogue drones. So the Dubai airport is launching its own drone hunter to track down the miscreants and report them to authorities.

The post Dubai launches ‘drone hunter’ to secure airport appeared first on Digital Trends.

Cool Tech–Digital Trends

You can buy a Nexus 5X or 6P with Copperhead’s secure OS

CopperheadOS is a custom operating system based on Android, and it offers a more secure environment, You can buy Nexus devices, namely the Nexus 5X and 6P, with the OS pre-installed.

The post You can buy a Nexus 5X or 6P with Copperhead’s secure OS appeared first on Digital Trends.

Mobile–Digital Trends

[TA Deals] Secure your important files and data with EncryptStick 6.0 (60% off)

If you’re looking for an extra layer security over sensitive files and documents, then you might just want to consider EncryptStick 6.0 over on Talk Android Deals. The tools provides military grade 1024-bit encryption, giving you peace of mind when it comes to making sure things are secure. Provides stronger, military grade 1024 Bit encryption […]

Come comment on this article: [TA Deals] Secure your important files and data with EncryptStick 6.0 (60% off)

Visit TalkAndroid


TalkAndroid

This wallet-sized cypher card lets you generate endless secure passwords that you can actually remember

Qwertycard is a wallet-sized plastic card that features one-of-a-kind codes. Using your codes and a secret word of your choice, you can generate secure passwords that are unique for every site you use and best of all, easy to remember.

The post This wallet-sized cypher card lets you generate endless secure passwords that you can actually remember appeared first on Digital Trends.

Cool Tech»Digital Trends