SecureMac presents The Checklist. Each week, Nicholas Raba, Nicholas Ptacek, and Ken Ray hit security topics for your Mac and iOS devices. From getting an old iPhone, iPad, iPod, Mac, and other Apple gear ready to sell to the first steps to take to secure new hardware, each show contains a set of easy to follow steps meant to keep you safe from identity thieves, hackers, malware, and other digital downfalls. Check in each Thursday for a new Checklist!
For this week’s show, we’re back to talking about the Mac — more specifically, addressing some of the most important security features baked directly into macOS. What steps has Apple taken to keep users safe, and what tools are there to make sure we’re all enjoying our Macs safely and securely? Perhaps you know someone who is about to get a new Mac, or maybe you’re even the one giving …
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The holiday shopping season has arrived again — and with this episode, we’re turning our attention to some security issues specific to this time of year. With Christmas coming up, you might be looking at all kinds of electronic gadgets for your friends and family. From tech-based toys to Internet of Things products, retailers have more web-connected devices available for us every year.
While it’s certainly a fun time …
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During last week’s episode, our discussion centered around talking to your parents about the importance of computer security, and how to educate them on essential steps to take. This week, we’re going to move beyond the parents and look at their computers ourselves —with their permission of course! After your pep talk about strong passwords, you should hope to find their computer protected with a password you can’t guess.
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Remember back when you were a kid, and someone sat you down to have “The Talk”? It might have been your parents, or it could have been a teacher, but we’ve all been through the experience of learning about “the birds and the bees.” It’s a pivotal moment, and learning about the facts of life can be, well, life-changing. It’s also essential for keeping you safe as you continue to grow up. Well, now you’re grown — you’re older and definitely a little wiser. It might be time to sit down with your parents and have your own version of The Talk with them.
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For years, people laboured under the misconceptions that Apple hardware and operating systems were immune to the threats and malware faced by the people who use Windows. While macOS may be stronger in some respects, what made the Mac the safest was the fact that relatively few people used it compared to Windows. But times have changed! For most of the past decade, growth for Apple machines has outpaced …
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Our lives are on our computers and our phones: there’s no getting around that fact. One day, we might look back on that and view it as a mistake, but for now, our finances, health records, communications, family photos, videos, and more all live on these devices. Keeping that information safe is important, and there are several layers of complexity to that challenge. From password practices to two-factor authentication …
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Today, we’ll be tackling a couple of buzzwords in the tech industry today: blockchains and Bitcoins. Not unlike HTTPS and botnets, blockchain and Bitcoin are terms that are starting to seep into everyday use. Before we all start using them, though, we should figure out what they mean and how they work! In fact, the blockchain concept has even begun to garner its own “buzzword” status in the security …
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This week on the Checklist, we take on some of your questions and comments. Topics include: – Scam pop-us – App specific password requirements – Issues with SS7 – Oddity around an email address.
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Part 1 of a 2 episode series where we go over various questions from our listeners!
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This week, we’re tackling threats to your online privacy as well as online threats to your physical privacy.
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The “S” in HTTPS stands for secure. But why? And how does it work? All you need to know about secure browsing.
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The personal information of 143-million people may have been compromised when the consumer credit reporting agency Equifax was hacked. What do we know about the attack? And what can we do going forward?
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We know that an unsecured Internet of Things (IoT) thing like a light bulb or a web-connected picture frame can become part of a botnet or a dedicated denial of service attack. But how does that happen? That’s the topic of today’s show.
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With malicious networks using tens of millions of computers and devices to serve up spam, run denial of service attacks, and more, botnets are a threat we can’t ignore.
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Today, we are looking at five of the biggest data breaches and most notable hacks in history. Who got hit? What data was stolen? How did they happen?
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On today’s episode, we’re looking at the way technological change has affected modern medicine, threats the healthcare industry faces, and what we can do to protect patient safety now and in the future.
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The rise of artificial intelligence in the consumer space seems to have happened overnight. It feels like we’ve gone from Apple’s introduction of Siri to virtual assistants everywhere in the blink of an eye. On today’s episode, we’ll be covering some security concerns that accompany the rise of AI.
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On today’s episode we’ll be taking a look at spyware: what it does, where it comes from, and what you can do to defend against it.
Sometimes it’s pretty obvious when you’ve got a malware infection – ransomware lets you know that your files have been encrypted and are being held for ransom, while adware spawns endless popups in your web browser. Spyware operates a bit differently, and unlike other types …
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Today’s episode of The Checklist is all about identity theft. With the right information, the wrong people can steal your identity – basically pretend to be you – and do a lot of damage in your name, and to your name.
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On today’s Checklist, we’re cracking open the history books! We’ll be looking at the evolution of malware: from the early days of “joke” viruses to the serious threat it poses today.
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