While enabling and using FileVault disk encryption is highly recommended for security-conscious Mac users with modern hardware and SSD volumes, some users may decide they do not need to use FileVault for a variety of reasons, or perhaps they just want to disable it for another purpose. That’s what we’re going to demonstrate here, disabling … Read More
Advanced users who spend a fair amount of time in the command line may wish to adjust their sudo password expiration to be more secure (or less secure, by extending the password grace period timeout). Typically this means removing any password timeout so that the default five minute password cache is abandoned, thus requiring the … Read More
Many Mac users running a modern version of OS X El Capitan have noticed the Secure Erase Free Space feature has gone missing from Disk Utility. What the “Erase Free Space” feature did (and still does in prior versions of Mac OS X) was overwrite the free space on a drive to prevent file recovery, … Read More
Opera, the alternative web browser, now includes a free VPN service, which is built directly into the web browser itself. The free VPN allows you to hide your IP address, access region restricted content or blocked content by bypassing a firewall or regional restraints, hide browsing activity from other users on the same local network, … Read More
Do you put tape over your computers camera? If you have ever been to an IT event or security conference you have undoubtedly seen many laptops with tape covering over their built-in cameras. The practice is becoming so common within some groups of people that you’ll occasionally even see the taped webcams in coffee shops … Read More
The latest versions of the Notes app for iOS allow users to password protect particular notes within the app, making it an excellent place to store personal information and private snippets that you’d like to keep away from prying eyes. In addition to password protection, Notes in iOS also allows users to lock and unlock … Read More
The Notes app is an excellent place to store clips of useful information, and now that you can password protect notes within the Mac app, you can securely keep more personal information within the Notes app of Mac OS X as well. This is a great feature available to new versions of the Notes app, … Read More
Code signed applications allow security conscious users to verify the creator and hash of a particular app to help confirm it has not been corrupted or tampered with. This is rarely necessary for average Mac users, particularly those who obtain their software from the Mac App Store or other trusted sources since the apps are … Read More
Every once in a while an awful bug is discovered that can crash an iPhone, render it nearly useless, or rarely, worse. The worst scenario applies here, because it turns out you can completely destroy an iPhone and make it inoperable by simply changing the devices date to a specific time and date far in … Read More
A hidden Lockdown folder is created by iTunes which stores certificate UDID data for iOS devices that are synced to a specific computer. These lockdown certificates are required to be able to successfully sync an iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch with a computer, but in some specific occasions, a user may need to manually access … Read More
Mac users who want a bit more network security can turn on an optional firewall feature in Mac OS X called Stealth Mode. With Stealth Mode enabled, the Mac will not acknowledge or respond to typical network discovery attempts with ICMP ping requests, and will not answer connections attempts made from closed TCP and UDP … Read More
Gatekeeper is a security feature built into Mac OS X which helps to prevent unauthorized applications and code from executing on a Mac. Most users have encountered Gatekeeper before when they go to open an application downloaded from the internet, where you see an “App can’t be opened because it is from an unidentified developer” … Read More
Many Mac users have noticed that the Secure Empty Trash feature has been removed in OS X El Capitan (10.11 or later), the reason the feature was removed is basically because it did not work all the time, but more on that in a moment. First, let’s cover how you can perform the equivalent of … Read More
Apple has enabled a new default security oriented featured called System Integrity Protection, often called rootless or SIP, in Mac OS from versions 10.11 onward. The SIP / rootless feature is aimed at preventing Mac OS X compromise by malicious code, whether intentionally or accidentally, and essentially what SIP does is lock down specific system … Read More
When a user sets up a new Mac, there is a helpful option to use an iCloud ID and Apple ID to login and unlock the Mac. Users can also choose at any time to have their iCloud ID as their login for OS X too. While this is undoubtedly a helpful feature and it … Read More
Though most Mac users will want to keep Gatekeeper enabled for security purposes, some advanced users find that Gatekeeper is overly zealous in preventing third party apps from being used in macOS and Mac OS X. While it’s easy to turn off Gatekeeper through the System Preferences on a Mac, another option is to disable … Read More
Rather than remembering a separate password and set of login information for unlocking a Mac, OS X offers the option to use an iCloud password to login to the computer at boot, reboot, authentication, locked screens, and all login windows instead. This is a helpful feature for users who like to keep things simple and … Read More
Apple has released an important security update for Mac users running a variety of versions of OS X. Labeled as “Security Update 2015-02”, the small update weighs in around 60MB and is available now for OS X Yosemite, OS X Mavericks, and OS X Mountain Lion.
