SCIENCE BOND

According to security firm Symantec, the amount of malware aimed at Apple's mobile operating system (iOS) has more than doubled this year, while threats to Mac computers also rose.  Security firm FireEye also expects 2016 to be a bumper year for Apple malware.  Systems such as Apple Pay could be targeted, it predicts.  Apple is an obvious target for cybercriminals because its products are so popular, said Dick O'Brien, a researcher at Symantec.  While the total number of threats targeting Apple devices remains low compared with Windows and Android, Symantec is seeing the range of threats multiply.  Last year, it was seeing a monthly average of between 10,000 and 70,000 Mac computers infected with malware.  This is far fewer than Windows desktops and we don't want to scaremonger. Apple remains a relatively safe platform but Apple users can no longer be complacent about security, as the number of infections and new threats rise," said Mr O'Brien. ...

The new problem - similar to the first - could leave users' personal information vulnerable, researchers backed by the US government said.  Dell said it had again released a fix, after doing the same for the first problem earlier this week.In a statement, Dell said that the second problem affected users who downloaded its Dell System Detect product between 20 October and 24 November 2015. It said the second issue was not pre-installed on computers - as the first was.  It said the product was removed from its site once the issue was spotted and a replacement application was made available.Earlier this week, Dell said it had inadvertently opened up a security hole in its computers when it pre-installed software on them. A self-signed root certificate authority (CA), which is used to identify trustworthy websites, was "implemented as part of a support tool and intended to make it faster and easier for our customers to service their system", Dell said. But the CA it ...

The tiny identity tags are essentially tiny imperfections in the building blocks of matter, making them virtually impossible to clone.  They could be used as the basis of a robust system for authenticating hardware and software.  Details of the work are published in the journal Scientific Reports.   The researchers from the UK universities of Lancaster and Manchester built tiny, layered metallic structures in the lab and incorporated "design flaws" that were unique to the item. "And the interesting thing is that you can't clone them. To clone them, you'd effectively have to measure atom-by-atom. You just can't do it."  The fingerprint structures were demonstrated at the nano-scale where the laws of quantum mechanics take over from the ones that predominate at larger scales. But the researchers say it is a proof of principle which could be integrated into existing chip manufacturing processes.  "These could be used to authenticate any el...

Galaxy S6 Edge The vulnerabilities include a loophole that could have been used by hackers to gain control of a victim's phone.  Most of the issues were fixed after Google notified Samsung, but some have yet to be addressed.  One independent expert said the bugs "significantly weakened the security" of Google's operating system.  "There is definitely a tension between Google and the handset manufacturers because Google wants to protect its Android brand, and when it comes to security, Android has been quite tarnished," added Dr Steven Murdoch, a security researcher at University College London.  "Some of that is down to the extra software that handset manufacturers add." A statement from Samsung said the three remaining bugs would be  fixed via a security update later this month.  "Maintaining the trust of our customers is a top priority", said the company.Details of the bugs were disclosed by Google's Project Zero team, wh...