Creating a password protected zip file is easy in Mac OS X and does not require any add-ons or downloads. Instead, use the zip utility that is bundled with all Macs. This offers a simple way to protect a zip archive file from unwanted viewing access, as when a user attempts to decompress the contents … Read More
If you’ve been following the Carrier IQ brouhaha and ensuing fallout, you might be interested to know that it’s very easy to disable the Carrier IQ service, logging, and reporting on iPhone or any other iOS device: Tap on “Settings” Go to “General” and tap on “About” Tap on “Diagnostics and Usage” Tap on “Don’t … Read More
Command line users who wish to add an additional layer of security to their keyboarding within Terminal app can find a helpful privacy feature built into the Mac client. Whether aiming for generally increasing security, if using a public Mac, or are simply concerned about things like keyloggers or any other potentially unauthorized access to … Read More
Private Eye is a free real-time network monitor app for Mac OS X that is extremely easy to use. Upon launching the app, you’ll start to see all open network connections by application and process, and you can then filter connections by app, monitor all open connections, or watch only incoming or outgoing transfer. Connections … Read More
Well here’s a security flaw in iOS 5 that will quickly get patched: anyone with a magnet (or a Smart Cover) can bypass the iPad 2’s locked passcode screen and access whatever app was previously left open. The passcode bypass was discovered by 9to5mac, who recorded a video demonstrating the security breach (embedded below). From … Read More
We recently wrote about the dscl utility and how it allows a Mac OS X Lion user to change a password without knowing the existing password. The lack of required admin authentication has since been widely reported as a bug, and a small Security Update will likely be issued by Apple sometime in the near … Read More
Renowned jailbreaker i0n1c, aka Stefan Esser, has put together a rather extensive presentation titled “iOS Kernel Exploitation” that explains exactly how jailbreaks work, ranging from how the exploits are found, how new code is injected into the iOS devices, how untethers work, and so much more. It was presented live at last months Black Hat … Read More
FileVault 2 is the all new disk encryption method that comes with Lion, and it’s more secure than ever, using XTS-AES 128 encryption on your entire disk, as opposed to just the user directory as in past versions. The other huge change that came with FileVault 2 is the significant performance boost, where using full … Read More
Think you have a secure iPhone password? Check this list, you might be using one of the freakishly common passcodes out there, and if so, it’s time to change it. These were compiled by an iOS developer who anonymously captured the passwords through his app: 1234 0000 2580 1111 5555 5683 0852 2222 1212 1998 … Read More
A recent anti-malware Mac OS X security update was released that defaults to automatically downloading and maintaining an active definitions list of known Mac OS X malware threats. This list comes from Apple and is likely a very small file that is transmitted to your Mac, imposing minimal bandwidth usage. For 99.99% of users, you … Read More
Apple has released a Mac OS X software update labeled “Security Update 2011-003” for Mac OS X 10.6.7 that includes a native malware removal tool. The focus of the update is on the MacDefender malware scam and its variants, now referred to as “OSX.MacDefender.A”. Once the update is installed your Mac will be scanned for … Read More
If you travel with a laptop often, do yourself a favor and install Prey, it’s free theft tracking and recovery software that really works. Prey is basically a tiny daemon that runs in the background on your Mac (or Windows or Linux PC) that does nothing until it receives a signal indicating the hardware is … Read More
A new malware threat has been identified for Mac users, the app is called MACDefender and it disguises itself as antivirus software for Mac OS X. The malware attempts to install itself through hijacked websites, and the threat level is considered low, nonetheless all Mac users should be aware of the potential threat and take … Read More
Hidden is theft tracking software for Mac OS X that works to help you recover your stolen MacBook Pro (or MacBook Air, MacBook, and any other Mac OS X machine really). It works by laying dormant on your Mac until you visit the Hidden website and mark your computer as stolen, this then activates the … Read More
Facebook is a great way to stay connected to people and has plenty of benefits, but that’s not why we’re here, we’re here to block access to Facebook. Why? Well, there are many reasons to block the site, companies often block the site to prevent employees from accessing it on company time, and parents may … Read More
Transmission has a built-in IP blocklist for what are determined to be “bad peers” and it should be enabled if you use Transmission with any sort of regularity. The blocklist helps to insure a better experience with torrents and also helps to protect your privacy. How to enable the IP Blocklist for downloading torrents in … Read More
Note: You can reset an iPhone passcode but you will lose data on the iPhone. This works on all iPhone and iOS versions, whereas the tip below describes a vulnerability in iOS 4.1 only. There’s a significant security hole that effects iPhone 4 and iPhone 3GS users running iOS 4.1. The hole allows a user … Read More
A trojan horse has been discovered that affects Mac OS X users, dubbed “trojan.osx.boonana.a” or ‘Koobface.’ An infected machine will hijack users social network accounts and attempt to spread the trojan further by sending out spam messages from your username. Thus far the trojan has been spread through Twitter, Facebook, MySpace, and eMail. Here is … Read More
