Mac News: The Week in Review: September 05, 2014

Tim Cook Responds to Celebrity Photo Scandal

Apple's top guy, CEO Tim Cook, gave an interview to Daisuke Wakabayashi, of the Wall Street Journal, to respond to the recent theft of nude images of celebrities. It was widely reported that the images came from the celebrities' iCloud accounts, and that Apple's servers were penetrated by some type of hacking scheme.

According to Mr. Cook, Apple security was never breached. The images were obtained not just from celebrity iCloud accounts, but also from other cloud-based storage services. In all cases, the accounts that were accessed used weak account names and passwords, along with common security questions, such as mother's maiden name.

The attackers were able to guess the answers to the security questions, and then use that information to reset account passwords, thus gaining access to the accounts.

Even though it appears the problem was caused by the use of simplistic passwords and security questions, Mr. Cook promises that Apple will beef up its account security requirements, as well as bring its two-factor security system to all iCloud services and accounts within a few weeks. (Currently, two-factor authentication is only available for some iCloud services.) It's likely that two-factor security will be a requirement, and baked into iOS 8 and OS X Yosemite… Read more.

Apple Updates Privacy Guidelines for Apps That Make Use of HealthKit or HomeKit

Apple has released guidelines for apps using HomeKit and HealthKit frameworks. The new guidelines address privacy, data collection, and usage of the data allowed by Apple. With the upcoming release of iOS 8, many applications are expected to take advantage of HealthKit's ability to easily gather and monitor health-related data, and HomeKit's ability to monitor and control a home's environment… Read more.

Rumor Roundup for the September 9th iPhone Event

With only a few days to go before the big iPhone media event, we decided to take a look at the rumors suggesting that both the iPhone 6 and the iWatch will be making their debut next Tuesday… Read more.

Apple to Provide Live Stream of September 9th Media Event

Apple has announced via its Events web site that the September 9th media event will be streamed live via the web site and on Apple TVs.

The Events web site is usually reserved for the more anticipated and dramatic events that Apple holds. This is just another indication that we'll be seeing much more than just a new iPhone next Tuesday… Read more.

Apple Wants Samsung to Pay $6.46 Per Unit Sold for Devices That Infringe on Apple Patents

Last week, the judge in the Apple-Samsung patent infringement suit denied Apple's motion to permanently ban the sales in the U.S of any Samsung product that infringes any of the patents the court had already found Samsung guilty of infringing on.

Apple has now returned to the same court, asking Judge Lucy Koh to order Samsung to pay up to $6.46 for each device sold in the U.S that makes use of Apple patents… Read more.

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