Stop Using Safari Immediately (at Least for Now)

Apple has a good reputation when it comes to privacy and security, despite the recent negative press about AirTags. You might be surprised to know that Apple's own web browser, Safari, isn't safe to use right now on any of the company's platforms.

A critical Safari issue can leave your browsing history and data open for theft. When you visit a website, it should only be able to access its own databases. This bug allows websites to see other databases, and to get information about you from those databases.

You can see this issue in action with the help of a test site. The site might be able to grab your user ID right away if you open it inSafari. Even if it can't, you can open any of its test websites in a new tab and see browsing history immediately. Since the site would only be able to access data from databases created by its domain, this type of information wouldn't be accessible. It is possible to get information from websites that use the IndexedDB jаvascriptAPI.

The first time the bug was reported, it was by FingerprintJS. The issue was posted to the WebKit Bug Tracker in November of last year, but it wasn't until Sunday, January 16 that Apple began work on a patch.

Apple is working on a fix for the security flaw, but until it is done, Safari is vulnerable.

What can be done to protect against this security threat.

If you have a Mac, you can simply use another browser. You have your choice of browsers. It can't be said for those of us on iPadOS. You can find these browsers on the App Store, but they are not the same browsers you get on Mac.

Apple doesn't allow developers to make their own browsers for their devices. Developers will be able to add features to the browser and sell it as a separate browser. While the mobile version of the desktop browser is called Chrome, it is actually called Safari and is powered by the same engine as the desktop browser. You can use features like data sync on your Mac and iPhone, but the one you use on mobile is actually Apple's core.

Normally, that is not a big deal. You cannot swap out your browser for Mac because of security issues. If Apple doesn't fix the problem with its three big platforms, using the internet on the iPad or iPhone is going to be riskier than using a different browser.

[9to5Mac]