Checklist 123: Longtime Listener, FaceTime Caller
One story today… with lots of little stories nestled inside… Longtime Listener, FaceTime Caller… time to hit the Checklist.
January 31, 2019 • 11 min read •
2019 Kicks Off with several Apple Security Issues
The year may not yet even be a few weeks old, but already the headlines have been crowded with a range of issues that Apple users would do well to notice. From malware slipping past Gatekeeper to a mysteriously cancelled hacker conference appearance, there’s plenty…
January 14, 2019 • 3 min read •
Apple Releases, Updates macOS Mojave and iOS 12, But Bricks Some Users’ Watches
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…
November 9, 2018 • 3 min read •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…
November 7, 2018 • 2 min read •
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….
November 1, 2018 • 13 min read •
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…
October 11, 2018 • 12 min read •Apple’s July Security Updates Correct a Host of Problems
It’s that time again: Apple has pushed out a variety of updates for practically all its products, from iTunes for Windows to multiple flavors of macOS, plus the latest version of iOS 11.4. New security updates are also available for iCloud for Windows, Safari, watchOS,…
July 18, 2018 • 2 min read •Researcher Discloses Potential Brute Force Attack on iPhone; Apple Says It’s Not Real
A strong passcode is one of the most important elements of personal security on iOS devices. While it has been some time since Apple introduced the stronger six-digit passcodes (which they now recommend), many people continue to use the four-digit PIN. According to one recent…
July 3, 2018 • 2 min read •
Apple Patches Bug in Swift Programming Language
Apple’s Swift programming language is a useful tool for developers on Mac and iOS platforms due to its versatility and wide-reaching application. Occasionally, though, Apple uncovers issues within Swift that could unintentionally allow bad actors to make inroads towards attack execution. A new Swift module…
July 2, 2018 • 2 min read •
Checklist 93: What’s New in Security News
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…
June 14, 2018 • 15 min read •Apple Patches Yet Another Phone-Crashing Text Bug
We’ve recently seen a series of bugs on iOS and macOS devices that all follow a similar pattern: maliciously-formed links or simple emojis and text strings that cause the device to lock up and crash, sometimes repeatedly. A number of these issues have been fixed…
February 26, 2018 • 2 min read •
iPhone Source Code Leak Could Open the Floodgates for Hackers
A key piece of Apple’s iPhone source code may be out in the wild. On February 7, someone posted something called “iBoot” on GitHub. GitHub is a popular site for sharing computer code. This time, though, it appears the code in question was not the…
February 20, 2018 • 3 min read •