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Issue link: https://digital.macdirectory.com/i/1500862
Schrödinger’s Vulnerability By SecureMac.com Apple and Google propose standard for Bluetooth trackers AirTags and other personal tracking devices have been the subject of great scrutiny over the past year. We’ve covered the topic extensively on the podcast: • Checklist 227: Playing AirTag • Checklist 230: Waiting for Various Labels • Checklist 235: A Trio of Topics • Checklist 266: It’s the Little Things: Apple Watch, AirTag, and Security • Checklist 267: But We Had AirTag Last Week… The biggest security worry is that bad actors and/or stalkers will use devices like AirTag to track people. Now there appears to be some good news on that front: Apple and Google say they’re launching a new initiative to create technological standards that will help people receive alerts when they’re being tracked by AirTag, Tile, Pebblebee, Chipolo, or the like. Ron Huang, Apple’s VP of Sensing and Connectivity, says: This new industry specification builds upon the AirTag protections, and through collaboration with Google results in a critical step forward to help combat unwanted tracking across iOS and Android. Erica Olsen, senior director of the Safety Net Project at the National Network to End Domestic Violence, voiced her approval of the proposed standards: These new standards will minimize opportunities for abuse of this technology and decrease the burden on survivors in detecting unwanted trackers. We are grateful for these efforts and look forward to continuing to work together to address unwanted tracking and misuse. The standards will be in the draft/review stage for the next few months, but the plan is to have working standards in place by the end of 2023. NYPD Bluetooth The power of AirTag trackers has enabled criminals to abuse them—but they’re also helping law enforcement fight back against crime. CBS New York reports that the New York Police Department is giving away 500 of the Apple tracking devices to residents of the Bronx in an attempt to combat a wave of car thefts plaguing several neighborhoods in the borough.