Both in the U.S. and abroad, governments are capturing encrypted connections that pass over the public internet and saving them for later use. Within years or decades, post-quantum computers could meaningfully shorten the amount of time required to unscramble encryption, allowing attackers to read previously private messages. So a growing number of organizations, including Apple, are preparing for attacks like these with post-quantum encryption. Read more in our newsletter.

Aye hearties, gangway — the Avast cor-pirates are walking the plank. That’s because the company sold user data without consumers’ knowledge, according to the Federal Trade Commission, which ordered U.K.-based Avast Limited to pay $16.5 million and will also bar the antivirus company from selling or licensing browser data for advertisements. Read more in our newsletter.

This week, security nerds are dancing in the streets because Signal, the encrypted messaging app, is finally rolling out usernames. Signal has previously required users to provide their phone number as an identifier, but with this most recent update, users may instead use a username. Read more in our newsletter.

Hundreds of data brokers aggregate and sell access to personal data, such as phone numbers, emails, addresses, and even purchasing habits collected through loyalty card programs, social media sites, apps, trackers embedded in websites, and more. Mozilla has a new monthly subscription service which automatically scans for your personal data on data broker websites, but there are other ways to make your data less easily searchable. Read more from the Digital Security Team.

Instead of traditional passwords, where you log into a website with credentials that you know or store in a manager, a passkey is a credential that you store on your device, registered with an online account. Read more in our newsletter.

Mercenary spyware firm NSO Group’s Pegasus spyware, designed to remotely access targeted smartphones, is marketed to governments around the world for the purposes of law enforcement and counterterrorism. But in the wild, we’ve seen governments repeatedly abuse this and similar spyware tools to infect journalists, spying on their most sensitive files, communications, and sources.

Thieves don’t just steal iPhones for the hardware — they may also want access to banking apps and Apple Pay to facilitate fraudulent transfers and purchases. One thing that works in thieves’ favor is that people often use short passwords that are easy to shoulder surf and to memorize — typically only six digits. To minimize this risk, instead of typing in passcodes, where possible and practical consider opting for Face ID or Touch ID when unlocking the phone in public spaces.

If you have found your email in a data breach and the affected account is still active, you’re going to want to change the password for the relevant service right away.

On Jan. 9, 2024, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission’s account on X, formerly known as Twitter, was hijacked and used to post about the approval of a Bitcoin exchange-traded fund. This could have happened to anyone, whether an individual or a well-resourced organization. Learn how to mitigate similar attacks in this week's edition of our digital security digest

Two-factor authentication (2FA) is great because it helps harden your account security. The strongest 2FA option commonly available today depends on a piece of hardware, a security key — a little device you can plug into your USB port to help log in.