News of the Cyber World

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Sen. Hawley’s Efforts to Fast-Track TikTok Ban Blocked by Sen. Paul

Efforts from Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) to ban Chinese-owned TikTok on U.S. soil suffered a setback on March 29 when fellow Republican Sen. Rand Paul (Ky.) opposed the move, arguing the ban would limit free speech.

On the Senate floor, Paul objected to Hawley’s request for unanimous consent to fast-track a ban on the viral app in the United States over national security concerns, telling his fellow colleagues he sees the ban as a First Amendment issue.

“Before banning TikTok, these censors might want to discover that China’s government already bans TikTok. Hmmm … do we really want to emulate China’s speech bans?” he said.

While TikTok does not operate in China, Douyin, the app’s heavily-censored sister platform run by TikTok’s Chinese parent company ByteDance, is allowed to operate in the country.

“Have faith that our Americans are smart enough to hear bad ideas and reject those ideas, have faith that our desire for freedom is strong enough to survive a few dance videos.”
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Responding to Paul, Hawley said that the First Amendment doesn’t contain the “right to espionage.”

“I’m astounded to learn that Americans have the right to be spied upon,” he said in a speech.

Who called for a spy?  

Federal Agency Warns Users to Update iPhones as Soon as Possible

“Apple has released security updates to address vulnerabilities in multiple products. An attacker could exploit some of these vulnerabilities to take control of an affected device,” the notice, dated March 28, reads. “CISA encourages users and administrators to review the following advisories and apply the necessary updates.”

Security updates were included in the iOS 15.7.4 and iPadOS 15.7.4, iOS 16.4 and iPadOS 16.4, Safari 16.4, Studio Display Firmware Update 16.4, watchOS 9.4, tvOS 16.4, macOS Big Sur 11.7.5, macOS Monterey 12.6.4, and macOS Ventura 13.3 upgrades on Monday.

Apple Inc. on Monday confirmed it released its iOS 16.4 update to users, including a number of new security updates and features.

iOS 16.4 runs on all iPhones starting from the iPhone 8 onwards, according to Apple, which includes bug fixes and new features. Apple also released iOS 15.7.4 for iPhones that are older who have older devices Monday.

The iOS 16.4 upgrade also fixes two flaws in the iPhone operating systems, tracked as CVE-2023-27969 and CVE-2023-27933 that could allow a malicious actor to execute code without the user knowing. Meanwhile, another flaw, CVE-2023-28178, could allow an attacker to bypass the user’s Privacy preferences, says Apple via its support page.

Two vulnerabilities in WebKit, which powers the Safari browser, were also fixed in the latest update, the release notes says. Overall, more than 30 security issues were fixed in the update.