Apple security in 2019: year in review

Computer security is constantly evolving, as new issues and vulnerabilities are discovered, as new software and devices are deployed, and as hackers figure out new ways to get around barriers.

Some security and privacy threats change over time. Ten years ago, we didn’t have to worry much about Internet of things (IoT) devices or data breaches, let alone hardware and even CPU architecture vulnerabilities like Spectre and Meltdown; we continued to see the emergence of similar discoveries and a continuance of these trends throughout 2019.

One thing that hasn’t changed over the past decade is that some Mac malware continues to disguise itself as Flash Player updates, even though Adobe is abandoning Flash at the end of 2020. Perhaps the fake-Flash malware trend will finally die toward the end of this year; time will tell.

Here is an overview of the main issues that affected Apple products and software in 2019:

  • Vulnerabilities and security updates
  • Malware—more than a dozen unique Mac threats
  • Data breaches
  • Phishing, fraud, and scams
  • Facebook failures
  • Internet of things issues

Read the rest of the article on The Mac Security Blog.