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• While some TikToks are claiming iOS 18.3 installs Starlink on your iPhone, that is not the case
• In the US, Starlink connectivity is only available on T-Mobile and in beta
• iOS 18.3 doesn't install this connectivity, but does make a network change

iOS 18.3 is here – and contrary to rumors being spread on TikTok and elsewhere, it doesn’t install Elon Musk’s Starlink tech on your iPhone. So, there’s no reason not to get the latest iOS update on your iPhone and ensure that you’re up to date.

iOS 18.3 is a relatively minor update, which mostly impacts Apple Intelligence – enabling the AI features by default and rolling out some fixes for Notification Summaries – and fixing several bugs. It does, however, make a change for T-Mobile customers by allowing the iPhone 14, iPhone 15, and iPhone 16 lineups to potentially connect to the Starlink-powered terrestrial network of the carrier.

It is not, however, allowing that connection by default, and T-Mobile’s partnership with Starlink is still in beta for a select few customers who opt to join it and then get selected to participate. Apple doesn’t have a partnership with Starlink, but T-Mobile does, and you need to opt in a few ways. Let’s unpack this ahead.

The myth: iOS 18.3 installs Starlink on your iPhone

(Image credit: Future/Jacob Krol)

The concern in the now viral TikToks is that the latest version of iOS basically adds a direct connection to Starlink to your iPhone. The main point of concern is that ‘Starlink can now work with iPhone and access it’ without any formal announcement from Apple on if it’s a mandatory connection.

Apple initially launched its Emergency SOS via Satellite service alongside the iPhone 14 – with support for the iPhone 15 and 16 – so the smartphones could connect to a satellite. However, it’s not on by default and is only engaged when no LTE or Wi-Fi network is available.

Since then, some carriers have offered satellite networks alongside a typical phone network. T-Mobile is doing that, and it initially announced its partnership with Starlink in August 2022.

Apple also updated a support page detailing how to turn off carrier-powered satellite features. To do this, open Settings, navigate to Cellular, select your carrier, and turn off ‘Satellite.’

Simply, though, iOS 18.3 does not install Starlink on the iPhone. Essentially, it is packaged within iOS 18.3 as a carrier network settings update for T-Mobile that allows for the connection. It is not on by default, though, and you need to be selected to join the beta after requesting a spot.

The reality: T-Mobile has a partnership with Starlink that is currently in beta and iOS 18.3 is safe to install

(Image credit: Apple)

So no, iOS 18.3 does not add a direct line to the Starlink network – forced or unforced – as some viral TikToks claim. It makes network settings changes that allow T-Mobile-connected iPhone 14, 15, or 16 to connect to T-Mobile 1900MHz spectrum, accessed through antenna ‘band 25’ on the iPhone to access the Starlink network.

Even for that network connection to happen, you need to have an eligible T-Mobile plan, register for the beta, and be selected to participate in it. Then, you need to be in an area where that network is supported and when a typical cellular network or Wi-Fi is unavailable. You’ll know that is the case when you see “SAT” replace the standard cellular bars and “4G,” “5G,” or “5G UW” in the top right corner of your iPhone.

T-Mobile opened its Starlink network beta program in December 2024, and interested customers have been able to register for it. It was first available to Android smartphones, and then the capability for the iPhone rolled out with iOS 18.3.

The partnership and the ability for T-Mobile devices to connect to Starlink’s direct-to-cell technology aims to reduce dead zones and allow users to stay connected. T-Mobile is also the only cellular network in the United States to have this partnership with Starlink.

Apple’s satellite connectivity for its iPhone under the ‘Emergency SOS’ feature is not Starlink and is done through a partnership with Globalstar.

Furthermore, it’s also best practice to keep your iPhone and other devices up to date, as using older software can make them more susceptible to security and privacy issues. iOS 18.3, like most iOS updates, brings some new features but also, at times, critical bug fixes and important security patches.

So, long story short, iOS 18.3 does not add a direct connection to Starlink to your iPhone. It simply allows a T-Mobile-connected iPhone to use that network when you're outside of traditional coverage if you’ve opted into the beta and have been selected. It’s also a partnership between T-Mobile and Starlink – Apple isn’t involved there and it doesn't have any impact or change to Apple's Emergency SOS via Satellite functionality. That service has been using Globalstar satellites since its inception.

If you’re on T-Mobile and want to opt out of using Starlink, open Settings on your iPhone, click Cellular, select your Carrier (in this case, T-Mobile), and turn off Satellite.

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• AMD advisory warns about a new high-severity security flaw
• The bug affects Zen 1 to Zen 4 CPUs
• Abuse could lead to the loss of SEV-based protection of a confidential guest

Chipmaking giant AMD has confirmed it recently patched a high-severity vulnerability affecting its Zen 1 to Zen 4 CPUs.

The company published a new security advisory, detailing the bug and its potential for exploitation, noting, “Researchers from Google have provided AMD with information on a potential vulnerability that, if successfully exploited, could lead to the loss of SEV-based protection of a confidential guest."

SEV is short for Secure Encrypted Virtualization - a hardware-based security feature designed to enhance the confidentiality and integrity of virtual machines (VMs) running on AMD EPYC processors. It encrypts the memory of individual VMs using unique encryption keys, ensuring that neither the hypervisor nor other VMs can access their data.

Mitigations available

The vulnerability is tracked as CVE-2024-56161, and has a severity score of 7.2/10 (high). It is described as an improper signature verification flaw in AMD CPU ROM microcode patch loader, which could allow threat actors with local admin privileges to load malicious CPU microcode. As a result, the confidentiality and integrity of a confidential guest running under AMD SEV-SNP would be lost.

“AMD has made available a mitigation for this issue which requires updating microcode on all impacted platforms to help prevent an attacker from loading malicious microcode,” the company concluded.

“Additionally, an SEV firmware update is required for some platforms to support SEV-SNP attestation. Updating the system BIOS image and rebooting the platform will enable attestation of the mitigation. A confidential guest can verify the mitigation has been enabled on the target platform through the SEV-SNP attestation report.”

The company only publicly disclosed the flaw recently, but the patch was actually released in mid-December 2024. AMD decided to delay the announcement to give its customers enough time to mitigate the problem.

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Sources tell WIRED that NOAA employees were ordered to give an engineer from Elon Musk’s DOGE task force access to all of the agency’s Google sites by the end of business on Wednesday.

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At least two workstation specialists have put supercharged PCs with Nvidia RTX 5090 GPUs on sale over the past few days. The most impressive of them all is the Bizon ZX5500 which packs up to seven (yes, seven) water-cooled 32GB RTX 5090 GPUs in a tall tower casing. This is the best GPU ever built and buying it through system builders seems to be the only way to avoid months-long wait.

While BizonTech's solution will probably feature in our best workstation guide, it is not as expansive as Comino’s Grando server, which has eight RTX 5090 GPUs, but the latter has yet to get a launch date (I contacted Comino for more details).

The ZX5500 doesn't come cheap at just under $102,000 with the GPUs accounting the lion share (more than 83%) of the total cost. That’s almost 3x the price of MIFCOM’s Big Boss which has seven liquid-cooled RTX 4090 GPUs.

A beefier 6Kw power supply unit plus and the cards cost an extra $85,000 compared to the same system with a pair of RTX 5080 (with 16GB VRAM each). As a reminder, the suggested retail price of the RTX 5090 is ‘just’ $2000.

An RTX 5090 on its retail packaging on a desk (Image credit: Future)

The ZX5500 can be updated to a 96-core ThreadRipper Pro CPU with 1TB of DDR5 RAM, almost 1PB of PCIe 4.0 SSDs (15 x 61.44TB SSD) and seven liquid-cooled Nvidia H200 AI GPU; such a configuration pushes the price above half a million US Dollars.

Where to find RTX 5090? Ask Pro system builders

Bizontech is a niche boutique vendor that specializes in servers, workstations and clusters for AI, deep learning and HPC. The RTX 5090 is sold out pretty much everywhere and it seems that Nvidia is prioritizing business and creative outlets like Bizontech, Puget Systems and Punch Technology, with workstations seemingly ready to be shipped within days rather than week.

Jon Bach, President, Puget Systems told me, “Supply for the 5090 (and the 5080) is very limited, and we expect that to be the case for at least through March. Puget Systems has a good number of cards in hand at the moment because of our OEM relationships, but we appear to be somewhat unusual in that respect. Overall, we are filling orders, but expect our lead times to be affected until supply improves."

The creative crowd will love the RTX 5090 as it obliterates absolutely everything in its path but at a price. Puget Systems and Storagereview benchmarked it across a wide range of AI and creative tests and found that it performed significantly better than previous generations (and AMD’s finest cards) albeit with a much higher power station.

TechRadar’s John Loeffler published a review of the RTX 5090 recently, calling it the supercar of graphics cards and asking whether it was simply too powerful, suggesting that it is an absolute glutton for wattage. He continues, “It's overkill, especially if you only want it for gaming, since monitors that can truly handle the frames this GPU can put out are likely years away.”

This, of course, will be irrelevant to Nvidia’s plans to launch an even more powerful version of the RTX 5090, one with a rumored 96GB GDDR7 memory which will replace the RTX 6000 ADA in due time. If this card follows the same inflationary trajectory as its consumer version then I won’t be surprised if its ticket price reaches $15,000, making it the most expensive graphics card of all time.

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• Apple has offered a patch for Ferret family malware
• The malware is used in associated with the 'Contagious Interview' campaign
• However some malware is still undetectable, so be on your guard

Apple has delivered a new patch on Xprotect, its on-device malware removal tool, intended to block several variants of the macOS ‘Ferret’ family of threats.

As reported by AppleInsider, the new update will counter several issues, including Ferret variants FRIENDLYFERRET_SECD, FROSTYFERRET_UI, and MULTI_FROSTYFERRET_CMDCODES.

These malware variants are reportedly used by North Korean hackers in what has been dubbed the ‘Contagious Interview’ campaign, in which criminals would create fake job openings, primarily targeting software developers or high–profile industries like defense, government departments, or aerospace. The new updates to Xprotect will help block this family of malware from Mac devices, here’s everything we know so far.

The Ferret Family

These fresh Ferret family variants have been observed by researchers to be associated with the ‘Contagious Interview’ campaign. This attack prompts targets to communicate with an interviewer through a link which would show an error message - urging victims to install or update a communication software for virtual meetings.

These ‘updates’ would be disguised as Chrome or Zoom installers, like ChromeUpdate and CameraAccess persistence modules (really FROSTYFERRET_UI). These apps install a malicious persistence agent which runs in the background and steals sensitive data from the victim.

The latest Xprotect update will block most known variants which are disguised as macOS system files - including com.apple.secd (FRIENDLYFERRET). However, not all FlexibleFerret variants can be detected, as the malware landscape evolves so quickly.

The campaign has been observed as far back as 2023, and has been attributed to the well known Lazarus hacking group, which has been observed running several malicious job campaigns to trick jobseekers into downloading malware or trojanized remote access tools.

The data these attackers can access is dependent on the device they infect. Aaron Walton, Threat Intelligence Analyst at Expel points out anyone who falls victim to an attack using their work device, unwittingly puts their organization at risk.

"Though these bad actors typically target people through job offers, it’s fairly common that the individual will run the malware on a corporate device," he notes. "The attackers often know this and use it as a means to gain information from their target organization."

Malware protection

At its origin, this is a social engineering campaign, so staying safe from these attacks is much easier if you can spot the signs. Social engineering attacks like phishing are often personalized, sometimes using information obtained from the dark web - obtained in a data breach, for example.

In this instance, the victims handed their information over as part of the ‘job application’ process, so thoroughly vetting any sites and companies you submit job applications to is really important.

Companies can't stop phishing attacks, and human error will always put organizations at risk, so to mitigate the risks every company, no matter what size, needs a robust cybersecurity strategy. Take a look at our SMB cybersecurity checklist to make sure you're covered.

"For organizations, it is important to have a strong defense-in-depth strategy—think of it as a multi-layered security fortress, where if one defense fails, another may stop the activity. That is, to defend the environment from many different angles. Employ endpoint detection, monitor networks, and empower employees to report suspicious activities", Walton comments.

As with most cyberattacks, vigilance is key. New malware threats are rising faster than ever, so being able to spot the signs can help limit the damage. If your device is suddenly much slower than normal, frequently crashes, or randomly reboots those are all signs that your device may be infected.

Another tell-tale sign is persistent pop-ups. These often bogus ads are pretty harmless themselves, but clicking on them might take you to a malicious site, and the ads are often a sign your device is infected. For a more detailed explanation of what to look for, check out our guide here.

For anyone who thinks this may apply to them, check out our list for the best antivirus software, which can be really helpful in locating and removing malware, as well as protecting against repeat infections.

If you do find malware on your device, make sure to remove the infected program immediately. Alongside this, it’s a good idea to disconnect from the internet to prevent the malware from spreading.

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• Dell'Oro group issues latest Broadband Access & Home Networking 5-Year Forecast Report
• Amongst its findings was the focus of Chinese telcos on FTTR (fiber to the room) and 50Gbps PON deployments
• 50G is a relatively new technology, and I've been surprised by the speed at which this is rolling out

China is advancing its broadband infrastructure with its rollout of 50G-PON, a next-generation fiber technology capable of delivering speeds of up to 50Gbps (50,000 Mbps) downstream.

A newly published report by Dell’Oro Group, which gathers information from conversations with equipment vendors and publicly released tender award notifications, projects that PON equipment revenue will grow from $10.5 billion in 2024 to $12.1 billion by 2029.

While this growth will be driven largely by 10Gbps XGS-PON deployments in North America, EMEA, and CALA, China’s 50G-PON deployments place it ahead of the rest of the world. Last year, Omdia forecast that China will be the only commercial market for 50G-PON in 2024 and 2025, accounting for 93 percent of the global market and generating $1.55 billion in revenue by 2027.

Fiber to the Room

PON, or Passive Optical Network, is a fiber-optic technology that enables multiple users to share a single fiber connection using passive optical splitters. This design reduces the need for active electronic components between the provider and end users, lowering infrastructure costs, reducing power consumption, and improving network efficiency.

The 50G-PON ITU-T standard supports theoretical speeds of up to 50 Gbps downstream and up to 25 Gbps upstream, though current real-world deployments in China - led by China Telecom, its regional branch Shanghai Telecom, and ZTE - typically provide 10 Gbps all-optical access.

Beyond 50G-PON, China is also expanding Fiber to the Room (FTTR), which extends fiber-optic connectivity to individual rooms within homes and businesses. Unlike traditional fiber-to-the-home (FTTH) setups, which typically deliver fiber to a central modem and then rely on Ethernet or Wi-Fi for distribution, FTTR brings fiber-optic cables directly to each room, ensuring faster speeds, lower latency, and more stable connections.

Other highlights from Dell’Oro Group’s report include that cable distributed access equipment revenue will peak at $1.3 billion in 2028 as operators continue DOCSIS 4.0 and early fiber deployments.

Fixed wireless CPE is expected to reach its highest revenue in 2025 and 2026, driven by 5G sub-6 GHz and millimeter wave units, while Wi-Fi 7 residential routers and broadband CPE with WLAN are projected to generate $8.9 billion by 2029 as adoption grows among consumers and service providers.

“Quietly, broadband access networks are evolving into large-scale edge compute platforms, with the ability to enable service convergence far more quickly and easily than ever before,” said Jeff Heynen, Vice President at Dell’Oro Group.

“This evolution means that the revenue mix for broadband equipment is shifting over the next five years, with spending on traditional hardware and software now being supplemented by spending on AI and machine learning tools to facilitate convergence and service reliability.”

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• Security researchers observe Chinese attackers targeting network appliances
• The code grants them persistent access and a number of different operations
• Hackers could grab system details, read sensitive user data, and more

Chinese hackers have been seen targeting network appliances with malware which gave them persistent access and the ability to run all sorts of actions.

A new report from cybersecurity researchers Fortiguard (part of Fortinet) dubbed the campaign “ELF/SShdinjector.A!tr”, and attributed the attack to Evasive Panda, also known as Daggerfly, or BRONZE HIGHLAND, a Chinese advanced persistent threat (APT) group active since at least 2012.

The group primarily engages in cyberespionage, targeting individuals, government institutions, and organizations. In the past, it was seen running operations against entities in Taiwan, Hong Kong, and the Tibetan community. We don’t know who the victims in this campaign were.

Analyzing with AI

Fortiguard did not discuss initial access, so we don’t know what gave Evasive Panda the ability to deploy malware. We can only suspect the usual - weak credentials, known vulnerabilities, or devices already infected with backdoors. In any case, Evasive Panda was seen injecting malware in the SSH daemon on the devices, opening up the doors for a wide variety of actions.

For example, the hackers could grab system details, read sensitive user data, access system logs, upload or download files, open a remote shell, run any command remotely, delete specific files from the system, and exfiltrate user credentials.

We last heard of Daggerfly in July 2024, when the group was seen targeting macOS users with an updated version of their proprietary malware. A report from Symantec claimed the new variant was most likely introduced since older variants got too exposed.

In that campaign, the group used a piece of malware called Macma, a macOS backdoor that was first observed in 2020, but it's still not known who built it. Being a modular backdoor, Macma’s key functionalities include device fingerprinting, executing commands, screen grabbing, keylogging, audio capture, and uploading/downloading files from the compromised systems.

Fortiguard also discussed reverse engineering and analyzing malware with AI. While it stressed that there were usual AI-related problems, such as hallucinations and omissions, the researchers praised the tool’s potential.

"While disassemblers and decompilers have improved over the last decade, this cannot be compared to the level of innovation we are seeing with AI," the researchers said. “This is outstanding!”

Via BleepingComputer

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The big features of Sonos' upcoming streaming box have leaked, and they sound pretty damn great, actually. The key elements are that it will have multiple HDMI passthrough ports and will act as an HDMI switch, that it will have a comprehensive range of streaming services in a unified interface, and that it will be able to send wireless audio to Sonos speakers in home theater configurations that don't involve a soundbar at all (or can still include one, but also wirelessly).

The downsides are that the software is being developed by an ad-tech company (and Sonos has a rocky reputation around software over the last year), and that it's predicted to cost $200-$400, which is a lot if you're looking at a living-room setup, since you then need to add all those speakers, and probably stands for the speakers, and all that jazz.

But there's a very interesting potential use case where the price downside really goes away, and the new speaker system could come into its own even more: custom home theater installs.

Not everyone realizes that Sonos is actually a significant name in the world of in-wall speakers and in-ceiling speakers. These aren't wireless, alas, but they're designed to work seamlessly with the Sonos Amp, which knows exactly how to drive them for peak output, and can drive six speakers (three pairs) per Amp box. In the past, their use for home theater has been limited to Sonos regular Amp options: they can act as stereo TV front speakers only, or rear TV speakers when paired with a soundbar.

But if the new streaming box enables more flexible speaker configurations, and can work with Sonos' in-wall speakers connected to multiple Sonos Amps, things could get interesting.

The Sonos Amp could be a secret weapon for the streaming box.

Imagine one of the best projectors (which probably won't have its own streaming tech built in) connected to a Sonos streaming box, which wirelessly sends audio out to two Sonos Amps. One is powering four in-ceiling speakers and a pair of front left and right in-wall speakers; the other is powering a pair of side in-wall speakers and a pair of rear ones. Hopefully the streaming box could also wirelessly connect to a pair (at least!) of Sonos Subs at the same time. That would be quite the Dolby Atmos setup.

Is this superior to connecting an AV receiver to a load of in-wall speakers? Perhaps not, but the installation might be easier if you only need to run cabling a shorter distance to a nearby box, rather than all the way to wherever your AV receiver is.

And you have the ease of use of Sonos' TruePlay tuning, which works excellently to get everything calibrated for your room.

To be clear, this is all speculation on my part – the original leaks about the ability to use speakers for wireless home theater sound said that Sonos is still evaluating exactly which options to include, and we don't know what configurations will be available. But if Sonos makes the Sonos Amp part of the system, the Sonos streaming box could be popular for installations, where price is way less sensitive a topic than most living-room setups.

But what about DTS?

However, there's something else that might put home theater enthusiasts off this whole project, and that's Sonos' on-going rejection of the DTS sound format. The only real competitor to Dolby (sorry Eclipsa Audio, call me when you're supported by some actual movies!) is a big deal to home theater enthusiasts, because it's the format of choice for so many 4K Blu-rays, and it's also now featured on the Disney Plus streaming service.

If you've gone to the effort of outfitting a projector and all these in-wall speakers, are you going to risk hearing the Oppenheimer soundtrack in anything less than full-power, maximum-impact DTS-HD? No, of course not, you're not a barbarian.

My Sonos Arc Ultra soundbar review would have scored it higher if it supported DTS; when it's so common among the competition, it's so frustrating that it's missing. And it lacking from that soundbar worries me that it's not coming to the streamer either.

I'm worried that the Sonos streaming box could end up falling into a valley between the two different sets of people who might love it: living-room users might be put off by the price; home theater users might be put off by the lack of DTS support.

Fortunately, everything we know so far is based on leaks. Perhaps the price will be a bargain in the end, perhaps it'll support DTS and every wireless configuration known to humankind, perhaps it'll be a total dud. I'm hoping Sonos will realize its potential for custom installs, at the very least.

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