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!
It has been a long time coming, but we are proud to celebrate the milestone achievement of 100 episodes of The Checklist, brought to you by SecureMac! We’d like to take this moment to say a big “thank you” to our listeners, especially those who’ve been here from the start. With such a big milestone, it seems appropriate that one of the top stories we have on our list …
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It’s time for another look into the world of security news, where we’ll talk about where Apple stores your sensitive data, the latest and strangest anti-spam efforts, and more. This week we’re narrowing our focus to look at how Apple is handling some of the latest speed bumps in its efforts to grow while also trying to maintain its public commitment to customer privacy and data security. We’ve also …
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In the past, we’ve spent a substantial amount of time talking about the business of security flaws. Usually, it centers around things such as selling personal data on the Dark Web after stealing it using exploits and attacks. Credit card details, names, and addresses, and more — it all makes for a booming black market of data. That’s not the only kind of information sold on the Dark Web, …
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The summer keeps on heating up, so why not stay inside where it’s cool, and relax with the newest edition of The Checklist? As the temperatures outside climb, the headlines in the world of Mac security and beyond keep piling up too. This week, we’re touching on a few security hiccups in Apple products, talking about some welcome patches, and covering the latest creepy information about Facebook’s activities to …
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It seems like it was just yesterday that we were kicking off the new year and wondering what the months ahead would have in store for us. As we head into the first sweltering days of summer, it’s safe to say that the first half of the year has been jam-packed with bigger and more far-reaching stories than even we could have anticipated. With so much going on, it …
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Every week, we try to bring you the biggest news in the security world — or at least the most interesting developments that could affect us all. That’s why this week we’re diving into a brand-new subject we’ve never covered before… just kidding – Facebook has done it again. If it seems lately as though every week we have something new and usually concerning to discuss about the social …
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Welcome to Episode 93 of The Checklist. Today, our attention turns towards security and insecurity — but we’re not talking about a long-lost Jane Austen novel. Instead, we’re taking a tour through the headlines to hit some of the big and interesting stories that have cropped up in the security sector over the past few weeks. Things we’ll be visiting on today’s list include:
The Zipperdown vulnerability
Puppy Pictures Preempt Privacy
The returning …
In many of our recent episodes, we’ve spent plenty of time talking about data breaches, a subject that often dominates security conversations these days. For good, reason, too, as everyone from major credit bureaus such as Equifax to retail store chains have lost or mishandled user information in recent years. Data breaches aren’t the only ways your personal information ends up in the hands of people who might not …
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The 2018 parade of big tech and security headlines continues, and in recent episodes, we’ve touched on some pretty big developments. From Cambridge Analytica and Facebook scandals to the rollout of the General Data Protection Regulation in Europe, we’ve covered some major issues so far this year. In between all those banner headlines, though, there have been plenty of other important stories that haven’t been quite so big as …
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Imagine if whenever you went to buy something — a car, perhaps — the information you handed over in the purchasing process became public record for anyone to see and search. All they’d have to do is plug your license plate in, and they’d be able to see your name, address, and phone number.
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There are some items of technology in our lives that are so standard and ubiquitous because of how fundamental they are to the way things work that it’s very easy to take them for granted. Because we don’t pay a second thought to these things, we also quickly get stuck in security pitfalls and fall for traps that play on the fact that we don’t know or think very …
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How do you unlock your iPhone when you need to use it? Apple gives us a ton of options when it comes to keeping our information safe from prying eyes and unwanted intruders, from PINs to our fingerprints and our faces. Apple’s commitment to empowering users to take control of their privacy and security, though, has sometimes been the source of very public friction between the tech giant and …
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Welcome to Episode 87. Last week, we took an in-depth look at data breaches: from how they happen to a few of the biggest ones, and of course, what you can do to protect yourself when a big company loses your data, we covered a lot of ground in that show. We’ve got further to go still, though! This week we’re continuing with our look into data breaches by …
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During the course of your day, buy things, like gas, food, & lodging. Do you pay cash for all those things — or do you try to go back in time and operate on the barter system? Even if you do most of your business in day to day life with cash, chances are there are still at least some occasions when you pull out a card. For many …
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When you log on to Facebook, do you still feel like you’re having fun? The social network used to be an awesome place to reconnect with old friends and keep in touch with family. Today, more people than ever are choosing #DeleteFacebook.
While Facebook is a free service in theory, since no one pays to sign up for an account, it turns out the real costs are much higher …
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Machine learning. Deep learning. Neural networks. Artificial intelligence… it’s starting to feel like we’re in an Isaac Asimov novel! For this week’s episode of The Checklist, we’re diving in to the latest ways computers and technology are being trained to complete complex tasks, make inferences, and do more overall. From Google training computers to identify specific objects in images to the way anti-malware software figures out how to detect and …
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It’s that time again — time for us to pull back for a “big picture” look at some of the big missteps in computer security over the recent weeks and months. Some of today’s stories relate to Apple, some don’t, but all of them fall into the category of a classic “security fail.”
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Malware and vulnerabilities have roared in early in 2018. On this week’s Checklist by SecureMac, three hazards and two helpers about which you should know.
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If you’ve been listening to the news recently, you’ve probably heard the name “Cambridge Analytica” come up — and all kinds of stories about the data firm’s former executives claiming they could manipulate and intimidate large numbers of people with crafted, targeted social media content.
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For all our listeners of The Checklist, it is no secret that we are strong advocates for security. Usually, we come on this show to talk about how to secure your digital life and keep unauthorized individuals from snooping through your information. Security is important, and in just about every situation, it’s not just desirable — it’s necessary. There is one unfortunate scenario, though, when it quickly causes problems: when …
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