Checklist 115: A Cornucopia of Security Stuffing

We’re stuffed on security news this week, with a cornucopia of subjects to sort through in our discussion. We’ll be chatting about a major online retailer fumbling with some of your data just before the biggest shopping season of the year, as well as crypto-miners striking some surprising targets, and a founder of the Web as we know it trying to make the online world a better place. So, we hope you’ve saved room for seconds, because cooking up on this week’s list, we have:

A bit of an oops …

Apple Releases, Updates macOS Mojave and iOS 12, But Bricks Some Users’...

In early September, Apple achieved two milestone releases: the arrival of iOS 12 for mobile devices and macOS Mojave for the desktop environment. Along with a host of bug fixes, both operating systems pushed their security hardening forward. Most notably, users on macOS can now trust that applications won’t gain access to the full contents of their hard disk without permission. While the changes do add the potential for dialog box fatigue and has impacted the operation of some software, it’s in line with Apple’s continued efforts to lock down …

Checklist 114: What’s the Internet for Again?

Welcome in to another episode of The Checklist, brought to you by SecureMac. We’re diving right into the headlines again today, looking first at a new improvement to Mac security, plus a couple of the more interesting stories floating around in the world of computer security this week. So, on our list for this week, we’ve got the following stories:

New Macs get physical with their mics
What’s the Internet for again?
Making laws to handle mishandled data

Let’s kick off today’s discussion with a look at an interesting new security feature …

Passcode Bypass Exploit for iOS 12.1 Appears Just After Release

Just a few hours after Apple released iOS 12.1 – which contained a few new features and a large slate of bug fixes – a security researcher identified a new privacy flaw. The researcher, Jose Rodriguez, recently made headlines a few weeks ago after identifying a problem with Siri similar to this new vulnerability. In both cases, an unauthorized user could access restricted information by bypassing a user’s PIN passcode. Though the exploits require physical access to your device to execute, they can result in the exposure of photos (in …

Checklist 113: Security Breaks and Fixes in iOS

A slightly surprising slip-up on Apple’s part, a helpful security how-to, and an update on a persistent foe — that’s what we’re diving into this week as we tour the headlines and pluck out the security stories that seem most ripe for an interesting discussion. On today’s list, we’re checking off the following stories:

A bypass in Apple’s hours-old update
Scammy subscriptions, and how to stop them
And GrayKey is getting stuck in the lock

This week, we’re starting off with a pretty unique story. When Apple releases a new update, the …

Checklist 112: Security as an Obstacle in Mojave

Last week, we brought you a discussion about some of the latest security and privacy features in Apple’s latest major release, macOS Mojave. Not everything is as it should be, though. Sure, Mojave is just fine for the average user – that’s the determination we made last week – but there are a few problems that have appeared in the days and weeks since its public release. This week, we’re talking about those issues and what’s up with them. On our list:

Full Disk Access Gives Up a Little Too …

Checklist 111: macOS Mojave

Say goodbye to High Sierra, and hello to Mojave! On September 24, Apple released the latest version of its core operating system, macOS, bringing with it not only many security improvements but also some new additions for online and offline privacy, as well. For those who tuned in to our in-depth look at the latest features in iOS 12, some of these will sound familiar due to the way Apple has harmonized its digital ecosystem. Other features are new and exciting — but not entirely free from problems. Within …

Checklist 110: Security and Privacy in iOS 12

It’s finally here! On September 17, Apple introduced iOS 12, the latest version of the operating system that makes our iPhones and iPads tick. Packed with a ton of new features, there’s more to iOS 12 than new Animojis and screen time monitoring services. Even a quick look reveals that it’s filled with all kinds of security goodies, too. In this week’s discussion, we’ve taken a deep dive into the changes to see for ourselves what Apple has done to increase mobile security and privacy. What have they implemented …

The release of iOS 12 Brings Both Security Improvements and Bug Fixes

The latest major version of Apple’s flagship mobile operating has been released, along with a group of updates shared among iOS and many other products, include macOS Mojave and watchOS. As a significant milestone, iOS 12 consists of a variety of hardened security improvements alongside various fixes for many different vulnerabilities and bugs. From making good security easier for users, to locking down loopholes, there’s a lot to unpack in iOS 12.

First up: the latest improvements to the operating system itself. With two-factor authentication more important for user …

Checklist 109: The Weakness is Wetware

Social engineering strikes again, the intersection of the digital world and constitutional law, and more — that’s the gist of the tour we’re taking around the headlines in today’s discussion. On our list for this week, we’ve got:

The Weakness is Wetware
Your Face and the Fifth Amendment
Questions About Last Week’s Wi-Fi Questions

We’re kicking off this week with a look at a story from Cult of Mac with a scary headline you might have seen recently about a vulnerability that “lets hackers steal business passwords” from Apple machines. That …

Checklist 108: Hotel Wi-Fi How-To

This week on The Checklist, we’re going on vacation! No, wait — it’s a business trip. Maybe… the house is being fumigated! Whatever the reason is, we have to check into a hotel, leaving our home network behind. Good news, though: the hotel has free Wi-Fi for us to use! The bad news: we weren’t the ones to set up the security for the hotel’s wireless network. We don’t know who’s staying in the room next door, or what they might be up to… and then to top it …

Checklist 107: Newegg, Old Issues

This week, we’re looking at a slew of security issues, from a good old-fashioned data breach, to Apple’s latest way to make sure that the person using your device is really you! Those stories, plus a look at California’s attempts to rein in problems with the Internet of Things, will give us a glimpse into what’s going on in the world of security recently. On our checklist for today’s discussion:

Security concerns break for Newegg
California considers laws for Internet of Things things
Using phone call data to protect your iPhone

If …

Breach of Spyware Company mSpy Exposes iCloud Account Information for Millions

Apple users should consider changing their iCloud passwords after a recent breach reportedly exposed the account information of millions of people. The breach involved a company called mSpy, a spyware-as-a-service business. mSpy sells mobile and computer software that allows users to spy on their friends or family members. The software is also marketed to allow parents to see what their children are doing on their devices. However, this type of software is technically illegal and mSpy has a shady reputation.

At the end of August, security researchers Brian Krebs …

Checklist 106: Breaking Down Breakdowns in the Mac App Store

This week, we’re taking a bit of a different approach to our show. Instead of presenting you with a list of topics and running down several separate stories, this week we’re focusing in on one major story that’s developed over the last week or two: breaches within Apple’s walled garden, the App Store. If you’ve heard disturbing stories about apps stealing your data and sending it off to China, or rumors about a major tech company (Trend Micro) fumbling the ball and mishandling user data, chances are good you’ve …

Checklist 105: Products and Byproducts

In this week’s discussion, we’re looking at some stories that strike a similar tone to several of our recent episodes. With Google figuring out how to use your spending habits to make money, spyware apps that end up being compromised, and a look at the web’s privacy-friendly search engine, we’ve got plenty to tackle today. Here’s what we’ve got on our list:

You’re still the product
Your kids are the byproduct
A look at how things are going for DuckDuckGo

Have you ever heard the saying, “If you aren’t paying for a …

Checklist 104: Guess Again! And Again! And Again!

It might seem like we have a thousand new security issues to talk about each week — but if you’ve been listening for a while, you know that’s pretty much par for the course these days. This week we have a plethora of stories about telcos (and their partners) dropping the ball when it comes to user privacy, followed by yet another Facebook story that leaves us wondering “When is enough enough?” and wrapping up with a big problem where parental spyware proves once again that actions can have …

Hacking Fax Machines? It Can Happen, and Mac Users Could Be Vulnerable

The average person, when they think about fax machines, probably puts them into the same class of technology as dial-up Internet — old, obsolete, and supplanted by more advanced technology. That last component, though, isn’t really true for the humble fax. In fact, many industries, including the medical sector, still rely heavily on fax machines for sending huge volumes of information daily. However, many of the fax machines in use today are not standalone devices, as they were in the 1980s; instead, they’re a component of all-in-one printers and scanners. …

Major macOS Mail App Harbors Major Vulnerabilities

How do you manage your email? For those who receive a high volume of messages every day and depend on their email for work purposes, answering this question is essential. Most stock mail clients don’t always offer the capabilities you need from them; for that reason, many people choose to use third-party email management programs. macOS users are no exception. However, it is important to be aware that this software, like any other, can put your data at risk if the developers fail to take appropriate security measures. That appears …

Checklist 103 Always Look a Gift Horse in the Mouth

Last week, we spent most of our discussion shaking our heads. This week, we’ve got an update on one of those stories, a look at a frankly quite scary USB device that doubles as malware, and a look at just how much the government doesn’t like apps that let you encrypt all your conversations. As we head into the “dog days of summer,” the security threats and the big stories keep adding up — but maybe we should be thankful we don’t have a multi-million-person data leak to discuss …

Security Researcher Accidentally Stumbles on a Way for Malware to Click...

One of the simplest ways to stay safe and secure on your Mac is to pay close attention to the warnings and prompts that the system often pops up when you’re in the middle of things. Many times, you might even expect these prompts to appear. It’s just macOS’s way of saying, “Hey, are you sure about that?” when something involves sensitive files or has extensive permissions. When you aren’t expecting them, they’re even more important: as your first line of defense, they can be a big red flag …