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Apple @ Work Podcast: Passkeys, Touch ID, and a world without passwords

tigaman webdesign — Fri, 02 Jun 2023 10:00:00 +0000

Apple @ Work is brought to you by Mosyle, the only Apple Unified Platform. Mosyle is the only solution that fully integrates 5 different applications on a single Apple-only platform, allowing Businesses to easily and automatically deploy, manage & protect all their Apple devices. Over 38,000 organizations leverage Mosyle solutions to automate the deployment, management, and security of millions of Apple devices daily. Request a FREE account today and discover how you can put your Apple fleet on auto-pilot at a price point that is hard to believe.

In this episode of Apple @ Work, I talk with John Bennett CEO of Dashlane about the state of Passkeys, why it dramatically improves security, and how Touch ID led to a world where users trust biometrics.

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Apple @ Work Podcast: Passkeys, Touch ID, and a world without passwords

tigaman webdesign — Fri, 02 Jun 2023 10:00:00 +0000

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F-Secure Total for Mac review

tigaman webdesign — Tue, 09 May 2023 11:46:30 +0000

Macworld

At a Glance

Expert’s Rating

Pros

Includes virus protection, secure browsing, ID monitoring, a VPN, and a password vault in one package
Effective and flexible VPN

Cons

Missing key capabilities such as a quick virus scan and a scheduled scan
Certain options unavailable in the Mac version vs the Windows version
No notification for malware infections
No way to view malicious or quarantined files
Charges a hefty annual subscription

Our Verdict

F-Secure Total for Mac includes several useful features but lacks certain key options, especially in the virus scanning. For a product that costs $59.99/£34.99 a year for one device (even with a discount), the Mac version feels lackluster, particularly when compared with its Windows counterpart.

Some security products that offer both Windows and macOS versions seem to devote equal time and resources to both versions. Others more heavily favour the Windows version, leaving the Mac edition lacking certain features and options. Such is the case with F-Secure Total for the Mac, which seems to be a full-featured security program at first glance but isn’t quite on par with its Windows counterpart.

Installation

To use F-Secure Total, you can select one of the paid subscriptions right off the bat or go for the free 30-day trial, all of which prompt you to set up an account. The trial requires no credit card and even gives you free technical support if you need it. At the main screen, you’re asked if you want to add your own device, your child’s device, or someone else’s device. Choosing your own device or a child’s device then lets you download the macOS version of the software.

A wizard guides you through the installation and deposits you at the program’s main screen where you can review the different security features–Viruses & Threats, Password Vault, Privacy VPN, ID Monitoring, and Secure Browsing. The software also tries to help you by offering specific recommendations, such as setting up the password vault and turning on the VPN.

The main screen for F-Secure Total displays all of the key features, including virus scanning, password vault, and secure browsing.

Features

Your first task will probably be to hunt for malware. Clicking the Scan button runs a full scan that checks your entire system. Clicking the link for Viruses & Threats takes you to another screen where you can scan just specific folders. Surprisingly, there are no options to run a quick scan or even to schedule a scan. (The Windows version does let you run a quick scan). Here, you’re also able to check for virus definition updates and submit a sample of an infected file to the company for analysis.

F-Secure provides real-time virus and spyware scanning to automatically block malware. You can exclude specific folders and files from the real-time scan and temporarily disable the scanning if it’s interfering with a software installation or other process.

F-Secure Total for the Mac lets you run a full virus scan but not a quick scan or scheduled scan.

To augment the regular virus scanning, F-Secure provides an option called DeepGuard, which monitors applications for any changes indicative of a malware infection. This option already includes many items in the list but you can add the names and locations of other applications to monitor.

Next, you may want to set up the ID monitoring to check your email address for data breaches among your online accounts. You can add as many as 10 addresses as well as other items, including a username, phone number, social security number, bank account number, credit card number, and passport number.

The VPN is another defense you’d likely want to enable, especially when using unprotected networks. By default, the VPN selects a location that provides the best possible connection. But you can switch to another location, including several across North America, Europe, Asia, and Australia. You’re also able to add your own personal network as a trusted one to allow access to local resources such as printers and scanners.

You can manually turn on the VPN or set it to activate whenever you log into your Mac. The VPN also includes tracking protection to prevent advertisers from monitoring your online activity and a kill switch to quickly cut off all internet traffic if the connection goes down. By default, F-Secure uses OpenVPN as the VPN protocol, which should suffice in most situations. You can also switch to OpenVPN (TCP) or IKEv2, both of which are briefly described in the program.

The VPN in F-Secure Total is both effective and flexible.

Next, an option for secure browsing allows you to install a browser extension that aims to block harmful webpages. The extension supports Safari, Google Chrome, Firefox, and Microsoft Edge (via the Chrome Web Store). With Secure Browsing active, the extension attempts to block phishing sites and other harmful pages. You can also tell it to block sites considered untrustworthy or those that contain prohibited content. Further, you’re able to manually add sites that you don’t want blocked and submit a sample URL that you believe is malicious.

Finally, F-Secure offers a password vault that creates and stores secure logins for all your accounts. To kick this off, you’re first asked to create your master password. Rather than enter this password each time you need to access the vault, you can instead use Touch ID on your MacBook.

To add your account logins, you import an existing list from Chrome, Firefox, Edge, LastPass, Dashlane, or another programs or manually create a login with the necessary username, password, and other details. An autofill option automatically enters your vault password at a stored site and will offer to save a password that you create. However, there’s no password suggestion option as is found in most password managers, so you have to devise your own complex passwords.

The required extension for the password vault officially supports Chrome, Firefox, and Edge. Safari isn’t yet supported, though F-Secure told me that this is in the works. The vault will also analyze your stored passwords to indicate which ones are strong, weak, or reused.

Performance

Browsing to the EICAR test virus website triggered a message that the site was considered harmful. Forging ahead by allowing access to the site, I tried downloading the eicar.com and eicar text files. Both were automatically removed but without any notification from F-Secure. I was able to download and extract the two eicar zip files. Upon extraction, the test malicious files in the archive were removed. A manual scan ultimately trashed the two zip files. Unfortunately, F-Secure doesn’t let you review blocked or deleted malicious files, and I couldn’t find any setting that would quarantine files instead of remove them.

A December 2022 review by AV-Test gave F-Secure SAFE for macOS a score of 4.5 out of 6 for protection and 5.5 out of 6 for usability.

Price & Availability

F-Secure Total costs $119.99/£99.99 for five devices, with the first year discounted to $69.99/£44.99. If you want to protect just one Mac, it’s $89.99/£69.99 ($59.99/£34.99 after the discount).

This gives full access to iOS apps as well as the Mac ones, and of course Android and Windows ones as well if required, and the cross-device configuration is managed through F-Secure web accounts.

Depending upon how many Macs, or other devices, need protecting, F-Secure Total can be quite expensive. Don’t forget though that F-Secure Safe is available, and cheaper, if you don’t want the VPN or ID Protection. F-Secure has no issue with you protecting devices belonging to other people, although of course it’s all managed through your own account.

See alternatives in our roundup of the
best antivirus software for Macs.

Verdict

F-Secure for the Mac seems to have all the right components that would make it an effective product. But given that certain key options are missing or lacking and the program costs $59.99/£34.99 a year even with the discount for one device, the Mac version should be more capable and better designed.

Antivirus, Personal Software, Security

Case-Mate’s iMac-inspired translucent USB-C chargers are half off

tigaman webdesign — Thu, 04 May 2023 14:51:52 +0000

Case-Mate’s translucent and colorful USB-C chargers start at just $15.40 today. | Image: Case-Mate

If you’re hunting for a graduation gift that’s both playful and practical, Case-Mate’s Fuel USB-C Charger is a good option. The portable charger delivers 30 watts of power so your giftee can quickly power up their smartphone, tablet, or even Nintendo Switch. It does that while looking good to boot, boasting a unique translucent body reminiscent of old iMacs available in a variety of fun colors. Best of all, starting at just $15.40 ($14.59 off) in lime green at Amazon, it’s affordable, so you can buy Mom one, too, for Mother’s Day — or just for yourself. We won’t judge!

If you were thinking about buying Google’s latest Pixel 7 only because the Pixel 7 Pro costs $300 more, you might want to think again. Right now, they’re a lot closer in price, meaning you can buy an unlocked Google Pixel 7 Pro for $699.99 ($200 off) — which is the best price we’ve seen on the excellent Android phone so far this year. The discount applies to the model with 128GB of storage in black from Amazon.

The Pro handset offers a wealth of impressive features, including face unlock, which is a new feature for the Pixel. Its camera remains amongst the best on the market and even includes a telephoto rear camera, which the Pixel 7 lacks. As for the display, it stands taller than the Pixel 7 at 6.7 inches while boasting a 120Hz refresh rate for a smoother scrolling experience. Despite that high refresh rate, however, the phone should still last you all day, which is longer than you’ll get on the Pixel 7. Just bear in mind it’s possible we may see a new Pixel 7A launch next week at Google I/0, but if your heart’s set on a top-of-the-line phone, this is a good deal to grab while it lasts.

Read our Pixel 7 Pro review.

Yes, it’s Star Wars Day, but it’s also apparently World Password Day today (yeah, that’s a thing). To celebrate, password managers like 1Password and Dashlane are offering new customers a 50 percent discount. Dashlane’s deal applies to new premium plan customers, so that means existing customers can upgrade as well and get a year for $29.99 ($30 off) when they use promo code WPD23 by May 8th. Meanwhile, 1Password is taking 50 percent off of the first year of its individual plan, so you’ll pay $18 instead of $36.

Both password managers will store your login information on unlimited devices, so you don’t need to worry about not having your codes with you. However, Dashlane comes with a few extra security and privacy features, like a VPN, so you can hide your IP address while surfing the web. Plus, in the coming months, Dashlane will add passwordless login similar to 1Password’s forthcoming passkeys solution. As a result, you won’t need to remember your login details to access either password manager.

If you feel comfortable buying a refurbished robot vacuum, eBay is currently taking up to 60 percent off various iRobot Roomba robovacs. Right now, for example, you can buy the Roomba i3 Evo Plus with an auto-empty base for just $249.99 via iRobot’s eBay storefront with a two-year warranty. That’s $150 less than buying it at its current discounted price of $399.99 ($150 off) at Amazon and Best Buy and $300 cheaper than its full retail price.

The i3 Evo Plus is amongst the best robot vacuums, one with tech that allows it to map out and clean only certain areas of your home. While it lacks advanced features like AI obstacle avoidance, it still cleans exceptionally well and offers support for Amazon Alexa and Google Assistant.

Just a few more before we take our leave

Expercom is selling Apple’s M1 Max-powered Mac Studio with 32GB of storage, a 10-core CPU, and a 14-core GPU for $1,899.05 ($100 off). The exceptionally powerful computer is perfect for creatives looking for something fast. It also has a great port selection — in fact, you can even run five displays out of one computer simultaneously. Read our review.
Nintendo has launched a bunch of sales, taking as much as 80 percent off a range of popular titles, like the digital edition of Just Dance 2023, which you can buy for $23.99 ($36 off) until May 15th at 11:59PM PT (or May 16th at 2:59AM ET). If you prefer action-adventure titles over fitness-oriented dance games, you can also buy various Assassin’s Creed games starting at $9.99 ($30 off) or Lego Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga for $23.99 ($36 off) until May 7th at 11:59PM PT (or May 8th at 2:59AM ET).
Amazon Prime members can buy the Kindle Scribe with 16GB of storage and a stylus included for $282.99 ($57 off) from Amazon. The 10.2-inch e-reader and writing device features a sharp 300ppi display, while its previously so-so note-taking capabilities recently improved thanks to new updates that allow for more flexibility. Read our review.

Dashlane announces passwordless login feature (but it’s not passkeys)

tigaman webdesign — Wed, 03 May 2023 17:38:57 +0000

Dashlane, one of the most popular password management apps, is doing away with its so-called master password in favor of a new password-free solution. The company announced the news in a blog post, explaining that the new system will rely on biometrics or a PIN code.

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Google Announces Support for Account Passkeys

tigaman webdesign — Wed, 03 May 2023 12:53:32 +0000

Google today announced that it is introducing support for passkeys, providing an easier and more secure login method for Google accounts. Apple integrated passkeys into iOS with the launch of iOS 16, and it is also available in iPadOS 16.1 and later as well as macOS Ventura.

Passkeys are an industry standard developed by the FIDO Alliance and the World Wide Web Consortium, so Google’s passkey integration will work on Apple devices as well as on other devices that support the feature. As Google notes:

Last year — alongside FIDO Alliance, Apple and Microsoft — we announced we would begin work to support passkeys on our platform as an easier and more secure alternative to passwords. And today, ahead of World Password Day, we’ve begun rolling out support for passkeys across Google Accounts on all major platforms. They’ll be an additional option that people can use to sign in, alongside passwords, 2-Step Verification (2SV), etc.

Passkeys are both easier to use and more secure than passwords because they let users sign in to apps and sites the same way they unlock their devices: With a fingerprint, a face scan or a screen lock PIN. Passkeys are also resistant to online attacks like phishing, making them more secure than things like SMS one-time codes.

To create a passkey, Google users can log in to their Google account and then choose the “Create a passkey” option. Passkeys on iOS and Mac devices sync with iCloud Keychain for security purposes, and logins are authenticated with Face ID or Touch ID. This protects you from being locked out of your account in case you lose your devices, and makes it easier for you to upgrade from one device to another.

Google says the switch to passkeys will take time, which is why traditional passwords and two-step verification will still work for Google Accounts.

Google is just one of several companies to implement support for passkeys in recent months, with other supporting apps and websites including PayPal, Best Buy, eBay, Dashlane, and Kayak.

Tags: Google, Passkeys

This article, "Google Announces Support for Account Passkeys" first appeared on MacRumors.com

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