Checklist 205: Staying Out of the Hospital and Getting Out the Vote

This week on the Checklist, we’ll cover two timely topics: cyberattacks on hospitals, and a voting contingency plan.

U.S. officials say Iran was behind voter intimidation emails

Voters in several U.S. states have received threatening emails telling them to vote for incumbent presidential candidate Donald Trump, and vowing to “come after” them if they do not comply. U.S. officials now say that Iran was behind the emails, and that their goal was to create chaos and to undermine the legitimacy of the upcoming elections. 

In this short piece, we’ll tell you what we know about this threat, and give you some tips on how to protect yourself and others.

What was in the emails?

The emails targeted voters in several …

Checklist 204: Cybercrime and the 2020 Election

The 2020 U.S. elections are just days away, and cybercriminals — some motivated by politics, others by financial gain — are stepping up their attacks. We’ll let you know what’s happening on this edition of the Checklist.

Voter intimidation emails attributed to Iran

We’ve talked before about the issue of foreign adversaries attempting to interfere with the upcoming U.S. elections, but this week a disturbing new development came to light. 

According to the FBI and Director of National Intelligence John Ratcliffe, Russia and Iran have obtained the voter registration data of American citizens, …

GravityRAT Windows malware has new macOS variant

Security researchers have just announced the discovery of Android and macOS variants of GravityRAT, a Windows spyware threat that’s been around since at least 2016.

Checklist 203: T2, Revisited Plus an Actual Checklist

On this week’s Checklist, we’ll cover:

How Macs are perceived in the enterpriseAn addendum to last week’s T2 storyA checklist of security tips from the NCSA

Survey says…

Do you feel like your Mac is the best choice for security? You’re not alone.

A recent survey conducted by enterprise software management platform Jamf asked businesses—both ones that used Macs and ones that didn’t—what they thought about the Mac in terms of security.

Across the board, 77% of all organizations polled said that they believed the Mac to be more secure “out of the box”, though …

5G iPhones and more at Apple’s October Event

Tuesday’s Apple Special Event introduced the iPhone 12 line and some cool new accessories as well. Here’s an overview of the new and upcoming product releases announced at the event:

iPhone 12 and iPhone 12 mini

The look of the new iPhone is reminiscent of past models: flat sides and a boxier appearance overall.

Technically speaking, probably the biggest change is compatibility with 5G wireless networks, which are currently being rolled out around the world. The 5G standard has two basic flavors: sub-6 5G and millimeter wave 5G. Apple says that the new …

U.S. Cyber Command attacks hackers

Amid growing concern about foreign interference in the November elections, military hackers at the United States Cyber Command have started attacking the Trickbot botnet. In this short article, we’ll tell you what’s happening and why it matters for the elections.

What is the Trickbot botnet?

Trickbot is botnet malware: malware that can be used to create networks of infected computers and then coordinate their activity. Originally a banking Trojan, the malware has evolved over the past several years and can now be used to spread ransomware and other forms of malware. It …

Notes from VB2020 localhost

The annual Virus Bulletin security conference was held last week; as has been the case with so many other events this year, the proceedings were fully remote, leading the organizers to call the 2020 instalment of the conference “VB2020 localhost”.

Checklist 202: The T2 Vulnerability with Patrick Wardle

This week’s big news: an “unpatchable” hardware vulnerability affecting Apple’s T2 security chip! But how serious is it, really? We spoke with Mac security expert Patrick Wardle to separate the facts from the clickbait headlines. We’ll cover:

the technical backgroundwho’s impacted (and what they can do)

Parsing the T2 story

The Apple security community was abuzz this week with news of an unpatchable vulnerability in the T2 security chip found in newer Macs.

To begin with, a quick refresher: The T2 chip is essentially a co-processor that handles much of the Mac’s security functionality, …

Russian APT Fancy Bear may have compromised federal agency

An unnamed U.S. federal agency has been breached, according to a recent report by the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), and third-party analysts now believe that Fancy Bear, the notorious Russian Advanced Persistent Threat (APT) group, is the likely culprit. 

In this short article, we’ll provide some details about the incident, give you some more background to the story, and share some of CISA’s security recommendations for organizations.

What happened?

The CISA report did not disclose the date of the hack or the name of the agency affected. But it did describe …

Is mobile sensor data the future of tracking?

In this short article, we’ll introduce you to this emerging phenomenon, tell you how it works, and offer some thoughts about the future of privacy.

Checklist 201: Cybersecurity Awareness Month

October is National Cybersecurity Awareness Month, and the National Cybersecurity Alliance has kicked things off by releasing some timely recommendations for 2020.

FinSpy spyware for macOS discovered

Researchers at Amnesty International have just announced the discovery of FinSpy spyware variants that target macOS and Linux users. In this article, we’ll tell you what they found, share some technical details uncovered by Amnesty’s malware analysts, and explain what it means for security and privacy.

What is FinSpy?

FinSpy is commercial spyware, produced by a private company and sold to law enforcement and intelligence agencies around the world. There are (arguably) legitimate uses of such monitoring software, for example in criminal and anti-terrorism investigations; however, FinSpy’s manufacturers have come under fire …

Checklist 200: TikTok, TV, and Time for a Checklist

On this week’s Checklist, we discuss a rapidly changing App Store story, we talk about streaming services and privacy, and we show you how to keep your wits in a cybersecurity emergency.

Apple updates iOS, macOS, and more

Apple has issued its initial round of updates to iOS 14, just a little over a week after the new mobile OS was first released to the public. In addition, there were updates to macOS, iPadOS, tvOS, and watchOS as well.

TikTok and WeChat bans on hold for now

With the United States threatening to make good on its promise to pull them from U.S. app marketplaces, popular apps TikTok and WeChat are granted a last-minute stay of execution.

macOS Big Sur security and privacy guide

Apple will soon release macOS Big Sur to the public — and it looks like it will bring a number of important security and privacy enhancements. In this guide, we’ll tell you everything you need to know about the Mac’s new and improved OS!

About the name and number

Ever since 2013, Apple has used California landmarks to name each new version of their flagship OS, and macOS “Big Sur” is no exception. However, there is one major change this time around: the version numbering system has been updated. Instead of following …

New iPads, Apple Watches, and more at the Apple Special Event

Apple held a special event this week to introduce several new devices and features. Here are some of the highlights: 

Apple Watch Series 6

As expected, Apple used the special event to introduce the Apple Watch Series 6. Although a number of cosmetic and design changes were mentioned (including a new (PRODUCT)RED case, seamless watch bands, and more faces than ever before), the Apple Watch Series 6 was presented first and foremost as a next-gen health and wellness device.

The Apple Watch Series 6 has a number of new health features, but perhaps …

Checklist 199: iOS 14 Privacy Features with Nick Leon

With iOS 14 out for less than 24-hours, now is an excellent time to look at some of its privacy improvements. Nick Leon joins us to address them.

Checklist 198: Listener Tracking in Podcasts with Rob Walch

Did you know that some podcasts actually track their listeners? Rob joins us today to talk about how the tracking occurs and about a new tool on the way to fight it.