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Apple Not as Secure as Users Believe

June 19, 2018

Encryption is your friend, except if encryption isn't properly implemented. Apparently, macOS users have been exposed to a security bug for almost a decade. A macOS feature that caches thumbnail images of files can leak highly sensitive data stored on password-protected drives and encrypted volumes. The Hacker News published a post that states, "Earlier this month, security researcher Wojciech Regula from SecuRing published a blog post, about the "Quick Look" feature in macOS that helps users preview photos, documents files, or a folder without opening them."

Bottom line is that a convenience feature compromises security. I don't think it matters if you are a Windows, macOS, Linux or any other operating system user. For now, Apple is in the cross hairs, but tomorrow it could be Windows. The sad part is that a large number of Apple users believe they don't have to do anything extra to protect the security of their data. Until and unless Apple resolves this issue in future, which may never happen, it is best to manually delete the QuickLook cache when you unmount an encrypted container. Sorry, but there is no automatic way to protect you if you are a macOS user.

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