The 10 biggest Apple news stories of 2020

In something of a reversal of the general trend for last year, a lot of that Apple news was actually good news as well!

Checklist 212: The Hacky Holidays Special

Voices of Checklists passed tell us about their favorite hacker movies, including Hackers, WarGames, Sneakers, and Superman III. What did they get right? What did they get wrong? And what can we learn from them? Snuggle up for The Hacky Holidays Special.

Zero-click iMessage exploit used to hack journalists

Security researchers have uncovered a surveillance campaign aimed at journalists in the Middle East, claiming that a zero-click iMessage exploit was used to hack their iPhones.stock

SolarWinds hack impacts U.S. government and military, exposes most of Fortune...

In mid-December, security analysts announced a serious data breach at two U.S. government departments. The SolarWinds hack has turned out to be one of the most far-reaching and sophisticated cyberattacks ever carried out against the U.S. government — the full impact of which now appears to go well beyond what was initially suspected.

In the past few days, we’ve learned more about the incident, including the scope, the attack vector, and the likely culprits. In what follows, we’ll try to answer some of the most common questions that people have been …

Checklist 211: Avoiding a Scammy New Year

The holidays! A time of love, warmth, and good cheer. Also, prime time for scammers. We’ll look at some delivery scams and how to avoid them.

Apple releases security updates for all OSes

Apple has just released security updates for all of its operating systems. In this short article, we’ll tell you about the most essential patches and help parse some of the language used in Cupertino’s release notes.

iOS and iPadOS

Apple has updated iOS and iPadOS to iOS 14.3 and iPadOS 14.3. 

In terms of security content, these updates mostly address vulnerabilities caused by the way that iOS and iPadOS handle image files, audio files, and font files. The vulnerabilities could have allowed an attacker to use maliciously crafted versions of these different file …

Apple and Cloudflare develop a more private Internet protocol

Apple and Cloudflare have teamed up to build a better Internet protocol. Known as ODoH, the new protocol is designed to enhance privacy by making it harder for third parties to see what users are doing online.

How to avoid package delivery scams

For record numbers of people, holiday gift buying was done online this year — and now everyone is waiting around for those presents to be delivered. The bad guys know this, and are using package delivery scams to take advantage of the situation.

Checklist 210: Shopping for Internet of Things Things

With time ticking down, you may be ordering IoT things for holiday gifts. Be sure what you’re buying is safe! We’ve got a Checklist for that. Plus – 33 vulnerabilities pose a threat to “millions” of IoT devices.

5 tips to help you avoid scam Facebook ads

If you’re going to be doing some online holiday shopping in the next week or two, here are 5 things you can do to protect yourself from the kind of scam ads you may encounter on Facebook and other social platforms.

New iOS exploit can hack iPhones wirelessly

A researcher at Google’s Project Zero has just announced a zero-click iOS exploit capable of wirelessly hacking nearby iPhones. As iOS exploits go, this one is a pretty big deal!

5 things to know about Apple’s iCloud Keychain in 2021

iCloud Keychain is Apple’s native password management solution for iOS and macOS, but it does more than just remember passwords! Keychain can be used to store credit card details to make online payments, remember Wi-Fi network passwords for faster logins when you’re on the go, and help you seamlessly access your social accounts. 

While iCloud Keychain is pretty familiar to anyone who uses an iPhone or a Mac, it also has some less well-known features that you should be aware of.

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Checklist 209: Apple Flouts the Firewall

You trust Apple. You trust the firewall you’ve set up on your Mac. But – do you trust Apple to decide what your firewall should stop and what it shouldn’t? Patrick Wardle joins us to discuss the issue on Checklist 209 – brought to you by SecureMac.

How to protect yourself from e-skimmers

E-skimmers are an increasingly common cyberthreat that everyone should be aware of, as these malicious tools can be used to steal credit card details and more.

Adobe Flash support will end on December 31, 2020

It’s the end of an era: the long-awaited end-of-life (EOL) for Adobe Flash will arrive on December 31, 2020. After that, Adobe and its partners will no longer support Flash, and the software will receive no additional updates.

In this short article, we’ll answer some common questions about this important transition, and let you know what it means in terms of security and privacy.

What is Flash?

Flash is a software platform that can be used to create graphics, animations, games, and embedded video players. At its height, Flash was widely used by …

How to buy safe IoT gifts

Internet of Things (IoT) devices can make great gifts, but the IoT in general is notoriously insecure — and with IoT threats on the rise, that’s a real cause for concern.

Checklist 208: Safe Shopping Online in 2020

The holiday season is here again…but this year, of course, is a little bit different. With more of us shopping from home than ever before, we’ll show you the safest ways to buy gifts online. On this Checklist, we cover:

5 best practices for 2020 shoppingShopping extensions and your security

Safe shopping: a Checklist checklist

Checklist listeners may be familiar with some of the following tips, but it’s always a good idea to review best practices every so often—and especially around this time of year, when scams and cyberattacks are at their peak. …

Hackers at 25 with Renoly Santiago

The film marks its 25th anniversary this year, and we caught up with Santiago to talk about the making of Hackers; the movie’s enduring legacy, and what it means to him personally; and the relationship between technology and the arts

Checklist 207: Privacy and Security in macOS Big Sur

macOS Big Sur has arrived. Or, we’ve gotten to Big Sur. Whatever the case, there’s a host of new privacy and security features in the Mac’s latest operating system. We’re talking over some of them with SecureMac’s Nick Leon on Checklist 207.

Shopping extensions and your security

We browser extensions that function as digital shopping assistants are becoming increasingly popular, but like any piece of software, shopping extensions have potential security ramifications.