Keeping your information secure from prying eyes.
We’ve warned before about scams that trick users into pasting malicious commands into Terminal. Attackers create fake CAPTCHA pages—often resembling Cloudflare’s “are you a human” tests—that instruct visitors to open Terminal, paste a command, and press Return. Because the user executes the command themselves, macOS’s security protections are bypassed. Malwarebytes recently documented a macOS infostealer […]
Read moreIf your Mac starts typing unexpected characters—or rejects a password you know is correct—check to see if the Input Source menu appears in the upper-right corner of the screen, indicating that your Mac has more than one keyboard layout available for writing in other languages. Accidentally switching from the standard U.S. keyboard (or whatever you […]
Read moreA standard piece of advice for staying safe online is to avoid opening attachments from people you don’t know or attachments that seem suspicious. It’s good advice, since PDFs and office documents can contain JavaScript and macros that present a security risk, or they could be maliciously crafted to take advantage of vulnerabilities in common […]
Read moreThe discovery of two sophisticated iPhone exploit kits—DarkSword and Coruna—within weeks of each other signals a troubling shift. Unlike previous spyware attacks that targeted high-profile users, these exploit kits have been deployed via compromised legitimate websites, so anyone who visits an infected site could fall victim, with no additional clicks or downloads required. This suggests […]
Read moreMany people assume that storing files in iCloud Drive, Box, Dropbox, Google Drive, or OneDrive means those files are backed up. After all, the files exist on remote servers maintained by large companies with professional IT teams and redundant storage. But that doesn’t mean they are backed up. Cloud storage is tremendously useful and can […]
Read moreApple offers several simple ways to share Wi-Fi network passwords. When someone nearby tries to connect to a Wi-Fi network with an iPhone, iPad, or Mac, and they are in your Contacts app, you will be automatically prompted to share the network password with them. Additionally, in the Passwords app, you can display a Wi-Fi […]
Read moreWhen business slows down, it’s tempting to reduce IT spending. But that approach often backfires, creating bigger problems—and larger bills—down the road. Beyond the productive work you accomplish on your Macs, your technology infrastructure enables you to communicate with clients, send invoices, manage schedules, and get paid. A downturn is precisely when you need those […]
Read moreAI agents—software that can take actions on your behalf using artificial intelligence—are having a moment. The appeal is obvious: imagine a robot butler that triages your inbox, manages your calendar, and handles tedious tasks while you focus on more important work. That’s the promise driving the recent surge in popularity of OpenClaw (formerly known as […]
Read moreHere’s something new to watch out for: poisoned chatbot conversations surfaced in Google searches. The sharing features in ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, Grok, and other chatbots allow users to publish their conversations as public Web pages, which can be indexed by search engines and appear alongside traditional websites in search results. Attackers can seed those conversations […]
Read moreOne of the big wins of using a password manager is that you don’t need to remember or enter most passwords—the app does that for you. Even those passwords that must be entered manually can be looked up if you forget them. However, people who don’t use password managers regularly forget passwords and have to […]
Read moreWe’re approaching the end of 2025, so we encourage you to consider your New Year’s resolutions. For many people, the new year offers an opportunity to reflect on habits we’d like to adopt or solidify. Although we support reducing social media use and making other positive lifestyle changes, we’d like to suggest a few additional […]
Read morePhishing scams have entered a new, AI-powered phase and can now convincingly mimic real people. Attackers can generate fake voice or video deepfakes to impersonate CEOs authorizing urgent payments, IT staff requesting access, or family members needing help. If you receive a voice or video call from someone you know at an unknown number who […]
Read moreThe first feature update to iOS 26 is now available—go to Settings > General > Software Update to install iOS 26.1. It doesn’t introduce any game-changers, but there are a few new options and tweaks worth knowing about. Tinted Option for Liquid Glass For many people, Liquid Glass’s aggressive transparency can make some interface elements, […]
Read moreOne small way Apple’s Passwords app lagged behind top password managers like 1Password was in its lack of a password history. It’s sometimes helpful—such as when trying to figure out why a seemingly correct password isn’t being accepted—to see previous passwords for a site and when they were changed. In macOS 26 Tahoe, iOS 26, […]
Read moreBelow are my current basic recommendations for protecting your data on your Mac, protecting your online accounts, and reducing the likelihood that you would fall for ever more sophisticated scams. I’ll update my recommendations over time so review this Tech Tip periodically. I expand on these security and privacy recommendations in an earlier Tech Tip. … Read more
Although Apple’s products and services generally live up to Steve Jobs’s phrase “it just works,” problems do occur, opening the door to scams targeting users seeking tech support. As professional providers of technical support, we’ve seen firsthand how these frauds have evolved from simple pop-ups to disturbingly convincing operations and how easy it is to […]
Read moreHere’s a new scam to watch for. A client reported running across a suspicious website masquerading as a human verification test. Instead of asking him to click pictures or solve a math equation, this one asked him to copy some text from the page and paste it into Terminal. The text was actually an encoded […]
Read moreData breaches keep coming, and the latest one revealed by Cybernews involves 16 billion passwords. There’s no way to know for sure if your passwords are included, though it’s always worth checking Have I Been Pwned and paying attention to monitoring features in password managers. Some media reports claim that passwords from accounts at Apple, […]
Read moreCheck out this YouTube video generated by artificial intelligence to get a better understanding of how persuasive future scams will be. Scammers now have access to impressive artificial intelligence-based tools. They will use these tools to create high quality scams that you’ll receive via email, online or over the phone.
Read moreAs digital threats become increasingly sophisticated, individuals need protection just as much as businesses do. According to the Federal Trade Commission, Americans lost $12 billion to fraud in 2024, with a significant portion coming from digital scams. While we’d all like to think we’re too savvy to fall for such schemes, even security experts can […]
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