What is Malware?

Malware is a generic term, referring to any program that can threaten the security of your computer. There are many different types of malware, including Trojan horses, keystroke loggers, hack tools, ransomware, spyware, and worms. Sometimes, these are combined to form ‘hybrid malware’, showing characteristics from two or more types.

Though often used in conversation as a synonym for ‘virus,’ malware is an abbreviated term that means ‘malicious software.’ The word can be used, therefore, to refer to just about any virtual threat designed to harm your computer. Malware …

Newly Discovered OS X Security Flaw Could Give Hackers an Easy Way to Take Control of Your System

If you by chance haven’t updated to Mac OS X 10.10 just yet (e.g., the Yosemite operating system update that first became available in October 2014), then you may want to hold off. According to a recent blog post by cyber security researcher Stefan Esser, Apple added a few features to the code of OS X 10.10 that have introduced some pretty serious vulnerabilities into the system. The issues, Esser noted, are present in both the current Yosemite release (OS X 10.10.4), as well as in the beta version …

Apple vs. Android: Who Wins in the Security Battle?

In a recent opinion piece for The Guardian, writer and technology professor John Naughton wrote about the ongoing war between Apple and Android for total dominance of the smartphone marketplace. The piece, titled “Security is the loser in the holy war between Android and Apple,” looked at how the battle between the iOS and Android operating systems has led to a marketplace where many smartphone owners are using phones that, in his words, “are riddled with security holes.”

While the title of Naughton’s article seems to suggest that the …

Why Protecting Your Child’s Identity Online Is Important

Parents raising kids today are at a disadvantage. Thanks to the internet and the advent of countless other digital and networking technologies, modern parents have to deal with challenges and dangers that their parents never had to deal with. Worse, many of these dangers are not often discussed in the public eye. Sure, we’ve all read a fair amount about cybercrime and online predators, but those threats are not the only ones that your kids are facing on the web.

The Child Identity Theft Problem

On the contrary, an equally …

Apple Boots Apps for Violating Privacy Policies

The Mac App Store recently booted 256 apps for violating store-wide privacy policies. According to a report from Tech Republic, Apple pulled the apps for their use of a “Chinese advertising software development kit.” Said another way, these apps were built in such a way that they collected a considerable amount of customer data. That data collection conflicted with the rules of the Mac App Store and has now resulted in the deletion of the apps in question.

A Sneaky Data Theft Operation

The silver lining for customers is that …

Monitoring Your Children Online

Modern parents face at least one challenge that their parents probably never had to deal with: the Internet. Kids these days spend a lot of their time online—whether researching for school assignments, playing games, or chatting with friends on social media—and all of this time spent in the digital world makes it more difficult for parents to know what their kids are doing at all times.

It used to be that parents could always be aware of where their kids were, what kind of activities they were participating …

Welcome to the new face of security

SecureMac News, Reviews & Advisories

We’ve migrated our news and advisories into a dedicated area on SecureMac. Now you can quickly access the latest news from anywhere on our site by clicking the ‘news’ button at the top of the screen. 

At a glance, you can quickly see the latest news, trending topics, and our most popular stories! 

SecureMac Product Showcase 

The SecureMac software team is constantly working on protecting Mac users. Our software section has been moved to its own area, where you can access information about our latest apps, …

Apple Faces Class Action Lawsuit for “Wi-Fi Assist” Feature

Did Apple make a grievous error with the design of its most recent mobile device operating system, iOS 9? After launching iOS 9 in September, alongside the release of the iPhone 6S and 6S Plus, Apple quickly came under fire for a feature called “Wi-Fi assist.” The feature is designed to provide users with a more seamless web browsing experience. In situations where an iPhone or iPad is having difficulty connecting to a Wi-Fi network, Wi-Fi assist will automatically switch to mobile data usage.

The problem is, many users …

How to Select a Strong Password (and Password Manager App)

Let’s just call a spade a spade: passwords are among the most irritating things about living in the digital age. Trying to remember even one or two passwords—let alone a different password for every device, site, and service that you use, as is usually recommended—can be a real test for the more forgetful among us. But passwords are also essential. Often, they are the one safeguard protecting your computer, your social media accounts, your email inbox, or your online banking page—to name a few—from everyone else on the web.

November 20, 2015 • 6 min read

Apple Updates to Patch Security Flaws for iOS and OS X

Apple’s latest mobile and desktop operating systems, iOS 9 and OS X El Capitan, launched in the second half of September. As of October 22nd, Apple has released updates for both operating systems to patch notable security flaws. The updates, iOS 9.1 and OS X 10.11.1, are essential for users who have updated their Apple devices to the latest operating systems.

According to a report on the updates from eWeek, Apple decided to release quick patches for their latest operating systems after third-party sources—including Google’s Project Zero and Yahoo’s Pentest team—identified …

Creating Password Protected Disk Images on Mac

Creating a disk image is a method often used for system backup, and can essentially clone your hard drive by copying the contents and structure of the disk and saving them exactly as they are on your computer. Using Mac’s Disk Utility, you can create a password-protected and fully encrypted disk image for secure system backup and disk cloning. Use the steps below to create a protected disk image for your Mac’s hard drive.

Open the Disk Utility

To get started with creating a protected disk image, you will need …

8 Tips to Keep your Mac Happy, Healthy, and Safe

Macs are sleek and slick computers that can run well for years after you take them out of the box. Like all other computers, though, your Mac is not immune to slowdowns, bugs, and other problems, and it’s up to you to keep your machine happy, healthy, and safe. Use the eight tips listed below to keep your Mac running like a well-oiled machine for years after first use.

(Once you’re done checking out this page, be sure to see our 2021 macOS Big Sur setup guide for even more …

4 Things You Probably Didn’t Know about Apple’s iCloud Keychain Feature

Note: This page refers to older versions of Keychain. We have an updated (2021) article about iCloud Keychain features.

Even if you don’t use it, you probably already know that the basic purpose of your Mac’s Keychain software is password management. iCloud Keychain is meant to make browsing the web, connecting to Wi-Fi networks, making credit card payments online, and other day-to-day internet tasks easier, by remembering all of your usernames, passwords, credit card numbers, Wi-Fi network …

Viruses on Mac: What You Need to Know

As computer lingo has evolved over time, the true definition of a “computer virus” has been somewhat lost. Indeed, these days, the term “computer virus” is perhaps most often used as a catch-all for all types of malware—from worms to Trojan Horses to keyloggers and beyond. The true definition of a computer virus, however—and the type of malware program it originally described—is a program that will infect programs and files throughout a computer system and change the way they behave and function.

Like worms, viruses are self-replicating and are …

Trojan Horses on Mac: How to Detect Them, Deal with Them, and Avoid Them

A Trojan Horse, in the computer world, is a potentially devastating type of malware that disguises itself as something desirable in order to be installed or downloaded onto a computer system. Once the Trojan program has been installed, it goes to work with its true purpose, executing malicious activities that greatly compromise the overall security of the system. If your Mac has been infected by a Trojan Horse, the program could do any number of things to the system—from initiating the installation of other viruses or malware programs, to …

Keystroke Loggers on Mac: Why You Should Be Aware of Them, and What to Worry About

The makers of MacScan, a popular malware scanner for Mac OS X machines, maintain a list on their website of the different types of Mac malware that their program helps to protect against. The list, in addition to providing a compelling argument for why to check out MacScan, also acts as one of the more comprehensive lists of known Mac OS X malware on the Internet. Looking at the list, it becomes clear that keystroke loggers are a serious problem for Mac users. Indeed, while the MacScan registry includes …

Computer Worms on Mac: What You Need to Know about This Type of Malware

The most threatening aspect of computer worms as a type of malware is that they are self-replicating. Where viruses sometimes need to hook up to a specific type of computer program or be actively controlled by a hacker in order to work, worms are so dangerous because they start cloning themselves pretty much the moment they hit your computer. The goal of worms is twofold: first, they seek to exploit known vulnerabilities in an operating system; second, they seek to spread as far as they can, using computer networks, …

Adware and Popups on Mac: A Guide to Spotting and Handling Annoying Malware

If your Mac seems to be getting hit with a ton of pop ups and extra advertisements as of late, there’s a good chance you are dealing with something we like to call “adware.” The good thing about adware is that it isn’t as inherently malicious or dangerous as other types of malware—like viruses, worms, Trojan Horses, keystroke loggers, and more. In fact, sometimes, adware isn’t even labeled as malware at all, and is instead classified as a PUA, or a “potentially unwanted application.”

With that said, adware, like tracking cookies, …

SecureMac Releases PrivacyScan 1.8

Las Vegas, Nevada – SecureMac is proud to announce the new release of PrivacyScan 1.8, offering privacy protection for Mac users. The latest version of the critically acclaimed personal privacy application is designed specifically for Mac OS X 10.11 El Capitan, updating features to securely wipe digital footprints left after using the computer and accessing the Internet. In this latest release, PrivacyScan is optimized for Apple’s latest operating system offering up-to-date cleaning protection for the latest apps.

“Apple is increasingly becoming a target for hackers. The idea that an operating system …

SecureMac releases MacScan 2.9.5 with Increased Privacy Support

September 14, 2015 – Las Vegas, Nevada – SecureMac is pleased to announce MacScan 2.9.5, the latest update to its award-winning anti-malware privacy and security software, with additional privacy support for supported Internet apps. This new version of MacScan enhances protection against the latest threats for Mac OS X, adding enhancements to the interface, bug fixes and improved web cleaning for the most recent versions of Safari, Chrome and Firefox. Additionally, MacScan 2.9.5 includes the latest spyware definitions and tracking cookie blacklist.

MacScan 2.9.5 is available for download …