Spectres, Meltdowns, and an endless parade of patches — 2018’s already off to quite a start, and it can all be just a little overwhelming. This week, we’re pulling back to the bigger picture and reaching into the grab bag for a Mix & Match episode as we cover a slew of stories from this past month!
February 8, 2018 • 20 min read
Alongside Apple’s recent updates to macOS Sierra and OS X El Capitan to address the Spectre and Meltdown vulnerabilities, the final week of January also saw the release of a variety of other incremental updates for most of Apple’s products. Typically, Apple does not disclose…
February 2, 2018 • 2 min read
Your iPhone is secure, right? That’s the general impression, anyway — and it’s certainly an impression Apple has worked hard to maintain over the years. It’s easy enough to call it secure, but what is in place to keep you safe? What does Apple do to protect its users day after day, and do we ever need to go beyond the “out of box” security experience? On today’s edition of The Checklist, we’re talking about the overall security features you’ll find in iOS, whether you’re an iPhone or an iPad user
February 1, 2018 • 17 min read
On today’s edition of The Checklist, we’re tackling the complex topics of Spectre and Meltdown, arguably two of the biggest and most far-reaching security vulnerabilities we’ve ever seen. Among those impacted are everyone from iOS and macOS users to Windows machines and just about anything powered by an Intel processor around the world!
January 25, 2018 • 16 min readMacScan 3 Malware authors are targeting macOS with increasing frequency, and although there is more Mac malware activity now than ever before, many users still go unprotected against these threats. MacScan protects you from malware adding much needed security and privacy. Requires macOS 10.9 or…
January 19, 2018 • 1 min read
Last week, we brought you Part One of our 2017 Security Year in Review. This week, we’ll wrap that up with Part Two! If you didn’t get a chance to check out Part One yet, the episode and its accompanying show notes are available right…
January 18, 2018 • 15 min read
For this, Episode 71 of The Checklist, we sat down during the first week of January 2018 to put a magnifying glass over the year that just ended. For part one of our discussion, we’re taking an in-depth look at the biggest security issues that affected macOS and iOS in 2017. With so many things going on — and there were quite a lot — it can be tough to remember all the details. To start our recap, we’ll go all the way back to this time one year ago: the beginning of January.
January 11, 2018 • 13 min read
Apple has confirmed that a pair of critical security vulnerabilities uncovered by security researchers late in 2017, and now filtering out into media reports, does affect “all Mac systems and iOS devices.” These bugs, dubbed Meltdown and Spectre, affect the clear majority of computers and…
January 8, 2018 • 1 min read
For more than a year, we’ve been taking a little time every week here at The Checklist to bring you a podcast focused on and around the security of the Mac, iOS devices, and the Apple platform in general. We all know that was silly,…
January 4, 2018 • 13 min read
In Episode 68, we spent some time talking about all the ways the bad guys can try to target the elderly online and over the phone. This week, we’re running all the way down to the other end of the age spectrum to look at the ways troublesome bad actors might target your kids. We’ll also discuss how these nefarious rogues may set their sights on your children as a way to target you, the parent, as their endgame.
December 28, 2017 • 17 min read
As we went into Thanksgiving a few weeks ago, we urged you to have some proactive talks with your family about how to stay safe while using their computers, especially on the Internet. We also covered how you could take action to lay the groundwork…
December 21, 2017 • 15 min readIn a world filled with “Internet of Things” (IoT) devices, there are security holes everywhere. Apple works hard on the hardened nature of its HomeKit system and the way these third-party devices interface with Apple products. So when news broke in early December that someone…
December 20, 2017 • 2 min read
Recently, in episode 66, we looked at the latest security features Apple has built into macOS. Last week, we began to explore what’s new and different in iOS 11. While the basics of iOS haven’t changed in some time, time and different development approaches mean…
December 14, 2017 • 11 min read
iOS 11 has been out for a few months now, and Apple’s latest flagship iPhone versions have also launched in its wake. By now, you should hopefully have made the upgrade to this newer software platform. Whether you’re just upgrading now, or you’ve been getting comfortable with iOS 11 for a few months now, you’ll find that iOS 11 puts plenty of tools within your reach to improve your device’s security and privacy. Here’s what you can do to make your device even safer.
December 9, 2017 • 3 min read
Have we ever talked about the security features built into iOS itself? Of course — we’ve covered that subject in many previous episodes, but things change. When The Checklist began, users were still walking around with iOS 9. Now we’re up to iOS 11, and Apple continues to make things more secure as they go. Even before iOS 11, Apple’s mobile system had some serious security protections and features, but they’ve added some new ones and refined others, so it’s time to revisit the topic.
December 7, 2017 • 11 min read