Checklist 208: Safe Shopping Online in 2020

Checklist 208: Safe Shopping Online in 2020

The holiday season is here again…but this year, of course, is a little bit different. With more of us shopping from home than ever before, we’ll show you the safest ways to buy gifts online. On this Checklist, we cover:

5 best practices for 2020 shoppingShopping extensions and your security

Safe shopping: a Checklist checklist

Checklist listeners may be familiar with some of the following tips, but it’s always a good idea to review best practices every so often—and especially around this time of year, when scams and cyberattacks are at their peak. …

November 19, 2020 • 8 min read
Hackers at 25 with Renoly Santiago

Hackers at 25 with Renoly Santiago

The film marks its 25th anniversary this year, and we caught up with Santiago to talk about the making of Hackers; the movie’s enduring legacy, and what it means to him personally; and the relationship between technology and the arts

November 13, 2020 • 15 min read
Checklist 207: Privacy and Security in macOS Big Sur

Checklist 207: Privacy and Security in macOS Big Sur

macOS Big Sur has arrived. Or, we’ve gotten to Big Sur. Whatever the case, there’s a host of new privacy and security features in the Mac’s latest operating system. We’re talking over some of them with SecureMac’s Nick Leon on Checklist 207.

November 12, 2020 • 8 min read
Shopping extensions and your security

Shopping extensions and your security

We browser extensions that function as digital shopping assistants are becoming increasingly popular, but like any piece of software, shopping extensions have potential security ramifications.

November 12, 2020 • 5 min read
Is Apple building a search engine?

Is Apple building a search engine?

The web is abuzz with rumors that Apple is poised to challenge Google’s search supremacy. In this short article, we’ll tell you why people think Cupertino may be building a search engine of its own, and say what it could mean for the future of privacy.

What are the analysts seeing?

According to a report published in The Financial Times, search marketing professionals have noted a significant uptick in Applebot activity. Applebot is Apple’s proprietary web crawler, a bot that browses the web for the purpose of indexing and ranking web pages …

October 30, 2020 • 4 min read
U.S. officials say Iran was behind voter intimidation emails

U.S. officials say Iran was behind voter intimidation emails

Voters in several U.S. states have received threatening emails telling them to vote for incumbent presidential candidate Donald Trump, and vowing to “come after” them if they do not comply. U.S. officials now say that Iran was behind the emails, and that their goal was to create chaos and to undermine the legitimacy of the upcoming elections. 

In this short piece, we’ll tell you what we know about this threat, and give you some tips on how to protect yourself and others.

What was in the emails?

The emails targeted voters in several …

October 23, 2020 • 7 min read
Checklist 204: Cybercrime and the 2020 Election

Checklist 204: Cybercrime and the 2020 Election

The 2020 U.S. elections are just days away, and cybercriminals — some motivated by politics, others by financial gain — are stepping up their attacks. We’ll let you know what’s happening on this edition of the Checklist.

Voter intimidation emails attributed to Iran

We’ve talked before about the issue of foreign adversaries attempting to interfere with the upcoming U.S. elections, but this week a disturbing new development came to light. 

According to the FBI and Director of National Intelligence John Ratcliffe, Russia and Iran have obtained the voter registration data of American citizens, …

October 22, 2020 • 8 min read