Security Articles on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog

In a MacDefender world, practice constant vigilance

by Megan Lavey-Heaton (May 26th, 2011)

A week ago, I did my public service duties and linked the MacDefender protection and removal guide that Steve Sande wrote to my Facebook wall. Then I braced for the comments. Luckily, none of the taunts I expected about Macs now being subject to ...

MacDefender malware protection and removal guide

by Steven Sande (May 19th, 2011)

Screenshot thanks to @jaythenerd The MacDefender malware has been causing trouble for Mac users all over the world; people are calling Apple Support in a panic, spending time visiting their local Apple Store Genius, and getting all stressed ...

Malware, Macs, and crying wolf: Doing the math

by Richard Gaywood (May 14th, 2011)

Love Apple gear? Like math? TUAW's Doing the Math series examines the numbers and the science that lie behind the hardware. The contentious subject of Mac security has been back in the news in recent weeks following the emergence of a fake ...

Skype pushes update to Mac client for security flaw

by Michael Rose (May 9th, 2011)

As we mentioned Saturday, a critical vulnerability in the Skype 5 client for Mac could have exposed your machine to attack from malicious contacts (the vector for attack is an instant message, which you only can receive by default from people ...

Firmware password security improved on new MacBook Air & Pro

by TJ Luoma (Mar 10th, 2011)

ZDNet spotted a new Apple support document which states that only "Apple retail stores or Apple Authorized Service Providers" can unlock a new MacBook Air (late 2010) or Pro (early 2011) protected by a firmware password. If your firmware password ...

Adobe's Wallaby hints at cracks in Flash armor

by Lauren Hirsch (Mar 9th, 2011)

The standoff between Adobe and Apple has been the stuff of legends. Neither Adobe, which rightfully maintained that it could not be ignored because a serious chunk of web content was delivered by its proprietary Flash format, nor Apple, which ...

iPadLock protects your iPad from thieves

by Steven Sande (Dec 8th, 2010)

Travelers with iPads have a bit of a dilemma. There's no way to lock the iPad to a heavy piece of furniture to keep it from walking off when you leave the room and somebody else decides to pick it up. Maclocks.com has a new way to resolve the ...

PayPal app has huge security flaw, update rushed to Apple

by Victor Agreda, Jr. (Nov 3rd, 2010)

You'd think by now we'd all be wary of open WiFi networks, and luckily that's the only way this could affect you, but if you use the PayPal app on an open network the Wall Street Journal is reporting a hacker could potentially nab your user ...

Thieves drive truck through Apple retailer's wall

by Mike Schramm (Nov 2nd, 2010)

We've heard of quite a few robberies at Apple Stores (and in its own twisted way, the idea makes sense -- despite the adage that 'crime doesn't pay,' laptops and iPhones are certainly easy to carry and very resellable), but this is probably the most ...

Security alert: New Trojan Horse apps said to attack the Mac

by Steven Sande (Oct 27th, 2010)

Some security mavens have long theorized that as the Mac becomes more popular, we'd start to see malware that would start targeting the platform. Sure enough, this morning's crop of email blasts from PR firms included a few notices of trojans that ...

How to guard yourself and your Mac from Firesheep and Wi-Fi snooping

by TJ Luoma (Oct 26th, 2010)

The prevalence of free/cheap and open Wi-Fi networks in coffee shops, airports, offices and hotels is a great boon to the traveling Mac or iPad user; it makes connectivity and remote work much easier than it used to be. Unfortunately, since most of ...

iOS 4.0.2 for iPhone/iPod touch, iOS 3.2.2 updates available now

by Steven Sande (Aug 11th, 2010)

Within the last few minutes, iOS 4.0.2 for iPhone 3G, 3GS, 4, and iPod touch 2nd and 3rd generation (late 2009 models with 32 or 64 GB) has become available for download. In addition, the iPad has received an update to iOS 3.2.2. The updates ...

AT&T sends email to iPad 3G owners affected by security breach

by Michael Rose (Jun 13th, 2010)

We've heard from several iPad 3G-owning readers who got an email today from AT&T's chief privacy officer regarding the exposure of email addresses due to the hacking efforts of Goatse Security. The full email is reproduced in the second half of ...

AT&T website scraped to reveal iPad 3G owners' email addresses

by Michael Rose (Jun 9th, 2010)

While there's no specific security risk associated with the pairing of ICC-ID and the email address of a subscriber -- other than the likelihood of spam or the possibility of phishing -- it's still a bad, bad thing to be giving away customer data out ...

Dear Aunt TUAW: Should I buy anti-virus software for OS X?

by Erica Sadun (Jun 3rd, 2010)

Dear Auntie, I am relatively new to the Apple desktop world. I just bought my first iMac a little over six months ago and I love it. My question concerns anti-virus software. All of my friends who have Macs say you don't need any. Even the folks ...

Google to employees: 'Mac or Linux, but no more Windows'

by Michael Rose (May 31st, 2010)

We first heard rumors of this policy change a couple of months ago, but now it's made the papers: the Financial Times is reporting that Google is phasing out the use of Windows internally, as employees are migrated to either Linux or Mac OS X on ...