Apple is bridging the gap between its proprietary biometric authentication features and websites for a seamless sign-in experience not relying on passwords. Those using an iPhone, an iPad, or a MacBook with the Touch Bar onboard should be familiar with the Face ID and Touch ID features. They enable biometric authentication to log into applications so instead of the traditional username and password combo. Apple is planning to extend the use cases of these mechanisms far beyond apps and services.

Apple has recently announced groundbreaking tweaks to both iOS and macOS that will efficiently counter several common types of unethical user tracking. This year’s Apple Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) is shaping up to be very promising in terms of the privacy and security combo. Although the company has departed from the usual format and is holding the event in a “no in-person attendance” mode in 2020 for obvious reasons, the overall informative stuffing is definitely at a decent level.

Apple is up to enhancing its users’ authentication practices by releasing a list of password criteria for developers and password management services. The new initiative codenamed the “Password Manager Resources” project aims to create a roadmap for the parties involved in masterminding and implementing secure login procedures. Coders and providers of password management applications shape up the primary audience of this groundbreaking move.

A developer earns a bug bounty reward for reporting a Sign in with Apple zero-day vulnerability that could allow a hacker to access users’ online accounts. When the “Sign in with Apple” service debuted in June 2019, it was praised for being a highly private way to authenticate with websites and applications. According to the company’s announcement made at last year’s Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) event, it was supposed to become a decent alternative to long-standing counterparts backed by Google and Facebook.

Ethical hackers have released an advanced jailbreak tool that exploits a zero-day vulnerability to support the latest iOS 13.5 version. A crew of hackers collectively calling themselves Unc0ver have masterminded a tool allowing users to jailbreak iOS 11 and later, including iOS 13.5 that went live just last week. The utility circumvents the security and software limitations built into iDevices.

Apple is rolling out a major update to iOS and iPadOS that addresses serious security flaws and brings several interesting features under the hood. The release of the new iPadOS and iOS 13.5 officially went live on May 20, 2020, and the update is currently underway globally. In addition to the usual bug fixes, stability tweaks, and performance improvements, it has a tangible focus on users’ health through the Exposure Notification API.