TECH

When law enforcement agencies want to gather evidence locked inside an iPhone, they often turn to hacking software from the Israeli firm Cellebrite. By manually plugging the software into a suspect’s phone, police can break in and determine where the person has gone and whom he or she has met.

Now, as governments fight the spread of COVID-19, Cellebrite is pitching the same capability to help authorities learn who a coronavirus sufferer may have infected. When someone tests positive, authorities can siphon up the patient’s location data and contacts, making it easy to “quarantine the right people,” according to a Cellebrite email pitch to the Delhi police force this month.

This would usually be done with consent, the email said. But in legally justified cases, such as when a patient violates a law against public gatherings, police could use the tools to break into a confiscated device, Cellebrite advised. “We do not need the phone passcode to collect the data,” the salesman wrote to a senior officer in an April 22 email reviewed by Reuters.

Boeing plans to reduce the workforce in its civil aviation unit by 10 percent to cut costs as the coronavirus causes a crisis for airlines, two sources familiar with the matter told AFP.

The layoffs would impact the unit manufacturing the troubled 737 MAX, which has been grounded for more than a year after two deadly crashes, as well as the 787 and 777 long-haul aircraft, the sources said.

The job cuts could affect up to 7,000 workers. Boeing employs more than 160,000 people worldwide, including 70,000 in Washington state, where most of its civilian aircraft are assembled. The plant in South Carolina produces only part of the 787.

The news comes just a day after the company slowly resumed production at its Puget Sound facility in Washington, with new measures to keep workers six-feet apart along with health checks and hand-washing stations.

Mazda’s CX-30 shares its base structure, front-wheel drive and much of its interior with the Mazda3 sedan and hatch — you could call it a Mazda3 wagon. Of course that term, which evokes old-fashioned two-box family freighters from yesterday’s brands such as Holden, would be the kiss of death for a new model today, so the CX-30 is — and always will be — referred to as an SUV.

The Mazda3 was a finalist in our 2019 Car of the Year awards, so it follows that the CX-30 should be on the front row of the compact SUV grid too, yes? Well … yes and no.

Videoconferencing platform Zoom is rolling out a number of measures meant to stem criticism over how it has handled security as users flock to the application during the coronavirus pandemic.

Zoom chief executive Eric Yuan laid out steps Wednesday that the company is taking against problems such as data hacking and harassment by individuals who crash sessions in what is referred to as "Zoombombing."

By week's end, paid account holders will be able to select which regions their data is routed through during their sessions in a move apparently aimed at concerns over information passing through China where it might be subject to snooping.

After years of releasing smartphones with four-figure price tags, Apple (AAPL) is reintroducing a lower-cost, stripped down iPhone model in an apparent effort to broaden its customer base.