Soluții

What is Quishing? How to protect yourself from QR Code Phishing

Quishing (QR code phishing) means embedding a malicious URL in a QR code. Rather than link to a legitimate site, the code will load a page that attempts to steal information, attempt to infect your device with malware, or perform some other harmful act.

It’s a silly-sounding name, but it presents a real threat. While we’re all aware that you shouldn’t visit disreputable websites or download unknown files, due to the nature of QR codes, there’s really no way of really knowing what’s on the other side of one. With a scan and a tap, you’re whisked away to a website that may display content you did not want to see, or redirected to a malicious file download.

It’s easy to be tricked into scanning a QR code, too: many businesses rely on third-party services and URL shorteners to create their QR codes, meaning that the embedded links won’t necessarily lead directly to their official websites. This makes it difficult to detect whether someone performing a quishing attack has tampered with a QR code.

QR codes for parking meters, restaurant payments and tip systems, and for fake promotions are being tampered with worldwide to perpetuate quishing scams, often by simply placing a sticker with a fraudulent QR over an existing official code. These trick codes then link to fake login pages and payment sites that either have you pay the scammer directly, or steal your information (which can be used to steal your money later, or push other scams).

There are a few effective steps you can take to protect yourself from quishing:

  • Use the default QR code scanner that comes with your device. QR scanners from app stores have a poor track record for security and privacy
  • Verify the address a QR is trying to send you to before opening the link, and avoid opening links that use URL shorteners
  • When possible, avoid using QRs to pay, especially if the payment link leads to an unknown address. Keep in mind too, that fake websites often use similar sounding names to official ones, so check the spelling!
  • Don’t scan random QR codes in public
  • Enable privacy protection and turn off automatic downloads in your web browser
  • Look at the physical QR code you’re scanning. If it has obviously been tampered with, stay clear.

If you’re creating a QR code for use in your business, there are a few ways you can make your customers comfortable and secure using it. First, consider whether you need a QR at all—forcing people to pull out their phones, fiddle with their camera, and wait for your website to load is much less convenient than a simple printed menu.

If a QR is vital to the experience, make sure it links directly to a page on your official business website. URL shorteners mask the intended destination, and are known to inject ads or redirect your QR to their own pages. You should also periodically check your physical QR codes and make sure no one tampers with them by placing a sticker of their own code over them to try and catch your customers in a quishing attack.

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How to avoid buying the wrong Mac

The first thing you need to decide is whether you want a desktop or a laptop. If you want a computer for a home office and only plan to use it in one spot, you can safely choose a desktop.

Even if you don’t plan to use your Mac outside your home, a laptop gives you greater freedom to work in different rooms, or even lounge on your bed watching Netflix. A MacBook Air is thin enough and light enough to use for a lot of the things you’d use an iPad for, so you might end up using it more than you expected. At the same time, a MacBook Pro is a more powerful machine that can travel with you if ever you need it to.

If you want a laptop, you’ve got two choices: the MacBook Air and MacBook Pro. For desktop Macs, there’s the Mac mini, Mac Studio, iMac, and Mac Pro.

MacBook Air or MacBook Pro?

The MacBook Air is Apple’s mainstream notebook designed for most people. It’s thin, light, silent, has great battery life, and is powerful for its size. It can easily handle everything the “average” user would need to do and can take care of more specialist tasks up to an enthusiast or semi-serious level. It can handle gaming, image and video editing, light coding, and so on.

  • MacBook Pro M3 14-Inch

But there are limitations. The Air doesn’t have a fan, so it can’t perform under a very heavy load for too long before heat leads to thermal throttling. It can still handle these tasks, but they’ll just take longer. It also has a very limited number of ports, and you can only choose a memory configuration of up to 24GB at checkout. But for most people, it provides more power than you’ll need.

  • Apple MacBook Pro (14-Inch, M4)

The MacBook Pro is primarily aimed at professional users and creatives, working in graphic design, music, video, 3D, and so on. The added power comes at a price. The base MacBook Pro costs almost the same as a fully specced-out MacBook Air, with many more expensive configurations to choose from.

Which Desktop Mac?

For desktop Macs, you have a choice between a Mac mini, a Mac Studio, an iMac, and a Mac Pro.The Mac mini is the desktop equivalent of a MacBook Air, though it has benefits like on-board cooling and a much broader selection of ports. The base M4 Mac mini is by far the best value Mac in the entire range, especially if you’ve already got a monitor, keyboard, and mouse that you can use with it. Start upgrading it and the price rises quickly—but you can upgrade it a long way if you need. The mini is also a good companion to an iPad.

  • Apple Mac Mini (M4)

Powered by an impressive M4 chip, the redesigned Mac Mini starts with 16GB RAM, 256GB SSD, a 10-core CPU, and a 10-core GPU.

The Mac Studio is more akin to a beefed-up MacBook Pro, with a lot more power than the mini, better heat management, and even more upgrade options. Prices start at around four times that of a base mini. Four times more than that again is the Mac Pro, an ultra high-end machine designed purely for serious professional use. At the time of writing, it’s only available with the M2 processor and is due to get an upgrade to the M4 at some point.

For all of those desktops, you’ll need to add your own monitor. The exception is the iMac, which is somewhat like a Mac mini, but with a built-in display. It’s a beautiful machine, very stylish, and a classic Apple product. It comes with everything you need, has an excellent display, and has a good selection of colors from which to choose.

  • Apple iMac (24-Inch, M4)

However, the upgrade choices are weaker, and you do pay quite a bit for the display. So if you’ve already got a monitor or you want the flexibility to choose your own screen, then you should go for the Mac mini instead. If you want to save even more money, consider the old Mac mini.

Choosing the specs is probably the most important part of buying a Mac. You don’t want to end up with a machine that’s not powerful enough for your needs, but unless you’re on an unlimited budget, you don’t want to spend more than you need either.

There are two main considerations; the memory and the storage size. In some ranges, you can also pick a processor from the basic CPU, the Pro, the Max, and the Ultra, although the M4 Ultra is not currently available. Some models have other optional upgrades as well, but these are not essential.

All Macs now come with a minimum of 16GB of memory, which is enough to handle browsing and streaming, office, image and video editing, and even some gaming. If you’re a more demanding user or want a little bit of headroom, an upgrade to 24GB will suffice, and this is as much as you can get on the MacBook Air and iMac.

You don’t need to go beyond that unless you’re doing serious video or graphics work. You’ll already know if you need more than 32GB.

For storage, the base models in the MacBook Air, Mac mini, and iMac ranges all come with 256GB SSDs. This is quite tight, especially now that Apple Intelligence is adding several gigabytes of bloat to macOS. If your budget stretches to just one upgrade, I’d recommend moving to the 512GB drive rather than adding more RAM.

In the Pro-level range, you can choose to upgrade to the Pro, Max, and soon the M4 Ultra processors. Unless you’re doing stuff like 3D rendering or heavy video editing, you won’t need to consider those.

When buying a Mac, you’ll often get a choice between the latest generation or the previous generation of devices. For example, through the Apple website, you can choose between an M2 or M3 MacBook Air. Aside from the performance improvements, the newer chip supports two external displays instead of one, but otherwise, the differences are minimal. You’ll save $100 with the older model.

Shopping from other stores might give you more options for older Macs, with greater savings. These can be a better buy—just make sure you’re getting 16GB of memory and (preferably) 512GB of storage unless you’re getting a very good price.

One other thing to keep in mind when buying a Mac is the hidden cost that goes with any extras you will need. You have to supply your own monitor, keyboard, and mouse for a Mac mini or Mac Studio. You might need a dongle to add more ports on a MacBook Air, or speakers, a laptop stand, and countless other things. Although extras sound like they should be optional, you often won’t be able to do without them.

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How to use Apple invites to Manage your Events

To create an event, you’ll need to download and install the Apple Invites app from the App Store. You also need an iCloud+ subscription to create a new event, although you don’t need one to respond to invitations.

  • Open the app and click “Create Event
  • Tap “Add Background” to create a background image for the invitation. You can select one of the available backgrounds, tap “Photos” to use one of your photos as the background, or tap “Camera” to take a photo to use as the background.
  • If you have Apple Intelligence, you can also tap “Playground” to create an original image using Image Playground.

Once you’ve selected your background, tap “Event Title” and give your event a name. Select “Date and Time” to choose the date and starting time of the event. You can make events all-day and include an end time if you wish. Tap “Location” to add the location for the event; you can search for a location from Apple Maps. Invites will automatically add the weather for that location to the event.

  • Tap “Add a Description” to describe what will be happening at the event, and you’ve completed all the information you need to create your event.
  • You can add shared albums and playlists if you want, as explained below.
  • Tap “Preview” to see how your invite will look to any recipients.

Creating a shared Photo Album for an Event

You have the option to add a shared photo album to your event. This lets you and other invitees upload photos that are visible to everyone who receives the invite.

  • Tap “Create Album” and grant the app access to your photos.
  • Change the name of the shared album if you want and tap “Done
  • Tap “Add Photos” and select the photos you want to add to the album.
  • Tap “Post” to add the photos to the shared album. When invitees receive the invite, they’ll be able to add their own photos to the shared album if they want.

Setting Up a Shared Apple Music Playlist

You can also set up a shared Apple Music playlist for your event. However, for invitees to be able to listen to the playlist in full, they’ll need to have their own Apple Music account, otherwise they can only listen to a preview of the playlist.

If you want other people to be able to collaborate on your playlist, you’ll be prompted to set up an Apple Music profile if you don’t have one already. This lets others see your shared playlists and what you’re currently listening to.

  • In your invite, click “Add Playlist.” You’ll need to grant access to your Apple Music account.
  • You can then select a pre-existing playlist or tap “New Playlist” and give your playlist a name to create a new one from scratch.
  • You’ll need to set up an Apple Music profile if you choose “Add and Collaborate” or you create a new playlist.

If you don’t want to do this, you can add a pre-existing playlist, and select “Add Playlist Only” which will mean that other people can’t edit or reorder the songs.

Adding your Event to your Calendar

Bizarrely, considering how integrated the Invites app is with the Apple ecosystem, your event isn’t added to your calendar app by default. You can manually create a calendar event, however.

  • Open your invite and tap the calendar icon at the top of the screen. You may need to grant access to your calendars if you haven’t already.
  • Check the details of the event are accurate. You can add an alert for your event if you want one by tapping the “Alert” dropdown and selecting a time.
  • When you’re happy with your calendar entry, tap “Add”.

Once you’ve completed your invite, it’s time to send it out. There are two main options here; you can send out a link that anyone can use to view and respond to your invite, so invitees can share the link with others if they want. Alternatively, you can send a unique invite link to specific people, meaning that only those people you invite can respond.

If you’ve reached the point where you’ve previewed your invite, tap “Next.” If you’ve left it and come back to it, tap “Invite Guests.” To send out a public link that lets anyone with the link view your invite, you can share the link via Messages, Mail, using your iPhone’s sharing options, or by copying the link and sending it out however you want. Toggle “Approve Guests” on if you want to be able to choose who can attend from the people that respond.

You can also opt to send your invite as a one-off link that only the people you send it to can use. This ensures that you don’t have anyone you don’t invite trying to RSVP to your invite. Under “Invite Individuals,” tap “Choose a Guest.” Select someone from your contacts and choose whether to send the link via Messages, Mail, or another sharing option.

Repeat for any other contacts you want to invite. If you want to send a one-off link to someone who isn’t in your contacts, tap “New Guest.” Enter their name and tap “Send Invitation.” You can then choose how to share the unique link.

Responding to an Invitation

You can send invitations to anyone, regardless of whether they have an Apple device or not. Having an iPhone with the Invites app installed does make the process a little quicker, however.

  • On iPhone, when you open the invite link, you’ll be taken straight to the Invites app
  • Click “Open Invitation” to see the details
  • You can then select “Going,” “Not Going” or “Maybe” and add a note to your response if you want.
  • Tap “Send Reply” and the creator of the event will be notified. The creator can see a full list of the RSVPs at any time by tapping the Guest List section of the event.

If you don’t have an iPhone, you can open the invitation link in any browser. You’ll see brief details of the event. Enter your email, and you’ll be sent a code to confirm your email address, which then grants you access to the full details of the event. Click in the RSVP section and choose “Going,” “Not Going” or “Maybe.” The creator of the event will get a notification of your response, which also appears in the event in the Invites app.

Limitations of using Apple Invites

If you’re an Apple user who already has an iCloud+ subscription for other reasons, then the Apple Invites app is a really easy way to create or respond to event invitations. If you don’t have iCloud+, you won’t be able to create events, which seems a little mean-spirited.

For Android users, the process isn’t quite as simple. You’ll need to verify your email to be able to see the event details and RSVP, and you’ll have to sign up for an Apple Account to view the shared photo album. If you don’t have an Apple Music subscription, you’ll only be able to hear a preview of the shared playlist, too.

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