Apple Updates iCloud for Windows 13 to Support ProRaw and ProRes

Apple has updated its iCloud for Windows app that adds support for Apple ProRes videos and Apple ProRaw photos.

Apple's iCloud app for Windows is designed to sync content such as photos, files, passwords, contacts, and calendars across devices and across platforms and consists of iCloud Photos, iCloud Drive, iCloud Passwords, and iCloud Mail, Contacts, Calendars, and Bookmarks. It allows Windows users who use other Apple devices outside of computing to keep important information up to date and available on their Windows PCs.

Today's update makes a few small but much-needed changes to the platform that makes for a better overall experience. Windows users can now allow participants of an iCloud Drive shared file or folder to add or remove people and the app now supports the generation of strong passwords via the iCloud Passwords app:

Specifically for photography and videography, the app gets a crucial update that brings support for Apple ProRes videos and Apple ProRaw photos. Apple ProRes was only recently pushed as an update to all users, but ProRaw capture has been available for almost a year.

Currently, even on Apple devices, the process of moving photos and videos, especially larger files like RAWs or ProRes HQ, is particularly challenging given the slow transfer rates available via Lightning. While the latest iPads have moved to USB-C, the iPhone is still using this legacy cable that only allows for USB-2.0 transfer speeds.

One of the methods Apple suggests is to allow iCloud to back up files in the background and access them later on a computer via cloud sync. While this isn't an ideal workflow for someone used to capturing and editing in the same day, it is viable for users who are in less of a hurry. Previously this option wasn't available to Windows users, however, and since PCs also lack AirDrop, getting files off an iPhone and onto a PC, for example, was particularly limited. Apple has now gratefully removed this barrier and Windows users have one more way to access the high-quality photo and video files captured on iOS devices.

While AirDrop is still not an option for PC users, at least the ability to sync via iCloud is. The new update is available immediately via the Microsoft Windows store and requires at least Windows 10 with x86 architecture. Full system requirements can be seen on through the app's official listing.

#news #software #appleicloud #appleproraw #appleprores #appleproreshq #cloudstorage #icloudforwindows #icloudstorage #windows #windows13

Fake Apple Rep Stole 620,000 Photos in iCloud Phishing Scam

A California man has pled guilty to four felonies for impersonating an Apple representative and breaking into numerous iCloud accounts in order to steal over 620,000 photos and 9,000 videos.

According to the Los Angeles Times, Hao Kuo Chi, 40, of La Puente, California stands accused by the FBI of gaining access to photos and videos of at least 306 victims while seeking nudes. He says that he hacked into 200 of those accounts at the request of people he met online. He marketed himself as able to hack into iCloud accounts to steal photos and after receiving a request to break into an account.

Chi, who goes by David, admitted to impersonating an Apple customer support representative in emails where would trick victims into providing him with their Apple IDs and passwords so that he could steal their photo and video libraries.

Through his scam, he was able to build a massive library of stolen photos and videos which he hosted on his personal DropBox account and organized by what he called "wins," which were those that contained nude images or videos of women and would be shared among a group of unnamed co-conspirators.

The FBI was able to identify two email address that Chi used to lure victims into changing their iCloud passwords and found more than 500,000 emails in the two accounts, with about 4,700 of those with iCloud user IDs and passwords that were sent to him.

Chi’s conspirators would request that he hack a certain iCloud account, and he would respond with a Dropbox link, according to a court statement by FBI agent Anthony Bossone, who works on cybercrime cases.

In all cases, the photos were always stored on Apple's secure servers, but Chi was able to gain access by getting his victims to hand over their login credentials. There was, therefore, no breach of Apple's iCloud security systems.

Chi was eventually discovered in 2018 when he gained access to an unidentified celebrity's iCloud and posted the images he gleaned onto a pornographic website. A California company that specializes in removing celebrity photos from the internet was able to determine that the images of the celebrity were uploaded from Chi's house. The FBI was then able to get a search warrant and raided Chi's home on May 19 of that year.

According to the Los Angeles Times report, by that point, the FBI had already gathered a clear picture of Chi's actions online from records they obtained from Dropbox, Google, Apple, Facebook, and Charter Communications.

Chi faces up to five years in prison for each of the four crimes for which he stands accused: one count of conspiracy and three counts of gaining unauthorized access to a protected computer.

Image credits: Header photo licensed via Depositphotos.

#culture #news #apple #breach #fake #icloud #icloudstorage #impersonation #impersonator #phishing #stolen #stolenphotos #stolenvideos