this post was submitted on 15 Feb 2024
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cross-posted from: https://lemmyf.uk/post/5813538

First ever iOS trojan discovered — and it’s stealing Face ID data to break into bank accounts

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[–] umbrella@lemmy.ml -3 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago) (1 children)

Thats like blaming a knife for the users inability to understand you have to grip it by the handle.

That vast majority can continue using their phones as if nothing ever happened. Nobody is forcing them and more choice is good.

Even if they are not using the feature they will benefit from competition in the space. That's the only sane way within capitalism. This far outweights the very small perceived risk a very small minority of users may or may not be subjected to the very same social engineering attack thats already being exposed by the article.

Its not us Lemmy or Android users pushing for this and dragging you along, we already have that feature, its fine. Its regulators wanting to mitigate the effects of a monopoly and this is benefical for the industry as a whole.

Again, you even said it yourself, most users can (and will) always keep the feature off anyway. Nobody is forced to use it and Apple will sure make it difficult anyway.

[–] chiisana@lemmy.chiisana.net 4 points 9 months ago (1 children)

There are plenty of apps people are forced to install; apps used for international airport entries, apps that’s used by everyone professionally, or worse yet, that one state-owned chat app grandma uses back home because everyone else uses it around her. All it take is one of them deciding they don’t want to be part of the strict review process and that their ability to further spy on their users are worth the core technology fee, and now people would be forced to use third party app stores with questionable review process. The “scare screen” before they add the third party App Store? That’s just going to be another thing users blindly click through due to notification fatigue.

At least for the time being, the current proposal put forth, Apple should still theoretically be able to revoke apps from third party app stores, and they still retain entitlement (sandbox/low level hardware access) signing rights. Once those checks and balances are taken away… then all hell breaks loose and those not super tech savvy (read: 99%+) will be hurt the most. At least I am comfortable enough to look out for myself 🤷

[–] umbrella@lemmy.ml 1 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago) (2 children)

android can sideload apps since its inception and this was never an issue. i doubt it will be with ios.

that is, unless....

[–] conciselyverbose@kbin.social 4 points 9 months ago (1 children)

Because Google already lets apps do anything they want no matter how malicious. There's no reason to leave the Play Store.

Apple has people sneak past their rules on occasion because screening is hard, but they have and enforce rules that protect your privacy that malware companies like Facebook don't want to follow.

[–] umbrella@lemmy.ml 1 points 9 months ago (1 children)

Android has a permission system (with flaws) not too dissimilar to iOS.

Both systems had apps sneak past it in clever but very similar ways to bypass them. Both were curbed by screening after being found.

I really doubt Facebook will force anyone to install their app from outside the store. You are talking about something that normies will barely be able to do.

[–] conciselyverbose@kbin.social 3 points 9 months ago (1 children)

I'm not talking about permissions.

I'm talking about their store policies. Google is far more permissive about malicious behavior than Apple is. Companies that have no reason to bypass the play store because it already allows them to spy to an obscene degree will bypass the App Store when given the opportunity, because it does not.

[–] umbrella@lemmy.ml 1 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago) (1 children)

I dont think Google is as permissive as you say, but regardless, they won't. Try and get a normie to enable and install a sideloaded app on Android and you will see what I mean.

The amount of social engineering required just makes this point moot. Might as well get them to do the same MDM attack illustrated in this article. Its not any less secure.

[–] conciselyverbose@kbin.social 1 points 9 months ago

Facebook can and will.

The entire reason they don't on Android is because there's literally no benefit to it.

[–] chiisana@lemmy.chiisana.net 1 points 9 months ago (1 children)

It absolutely has happened on Android. The Russian government has launched their own app store, as an example of a state-owned-and-operated third party app store.

Additionally, once both iOS and Android are opened up, the capability to control the end-to-end distribution on both platforms simultaneously becomes a much larger incentive for major corporations; gone are the days where some users receives some features earlier because the other app store have not pushed the update yet -- they control it end-to-end.

I mean, I should be abundantly clear: simply operating a third party store does not equate to malicious intent. Some would argue the corporation case above could be considered beneficial for users. However, having third party stores with varying degree of security capabilities increases attack vectors for bad actors, and thereby making it more difficult for everyday users to manage -- an additional layer of complexity iOS users have not had to deal with for many years and very very few has signed up for.

[–] umbrella@lemmy.ml 1 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago)

Are all russians forced to use it? If so did that come because of sanctions? If thats the case you just highlighted a great reason to open up. If not I don't really see an issue because thats the whole reason behind this change.

Big corpos will never choose to force users to do things the hard way unless they absolutely must. Most normies wouldn't be able to use their product. And most privacy protections are built into the OS, not the store.

And if some gvmnt wants to spy and control its users they will regardless of how restricted the walled garden is, the NSA and similar exemplifies this perfectly.