Cybercriminals are increasingly targeting Apple devices and 2016 will see a rise in attacks on its operating systems, security experts suggest. According to security firm Symantec, the amount of malware aimed at Apple's mobile operating system has more than doubled this year, while threats to Mac computers also rose.

Security firm FireEye also expects 2016 to be a bumper year for Apple malware. Systems such as Apple Pay could be targeted, it predicts. Apple is an obvious target for cybercriminals because its products are so popular. While the total number of threats targeting Apple devices remains low compared with Windows and Android.

With the launch of iOS 9, Apple gave us an ultimate reason to upgrade our Apple devices to its new operating system. The latest iOS 9 includes a security update for a nasty bug that could be exploited to take full control of your iPhone or Macs, forcing most of the Apple users to download the latest update.

Australian security researcher Mark Dowd has disclosed a serious vulnerability in AirDrop, Apple's over-the-air file sharing service built into iOS and Mac OS X. The vulnerability allows anyone within the range of an AirDrop user to silently install a malicious app on a target Apple device by sending an AirDrop file which involves rebooting of the target device.

Back in July, a security researcher disclosed a zero-day vulnerability in Mac OS X that allowed attackers to obtain unrestricted root user privileges with the help of code that even fits in a tweet.

The same vulnerability has now been upgraded to again infect Mac OS X machines even after Apple fixed the issue last month. The privilege-escalation bug was once used to circumvent security protections and gain full control of Mac computers. The vulnerability then allowed attackers to install malware and adware onto a target Mac, without requiring victims to enter system passwords.

Security researcher published the details of a vulnerability in OS X a couple weeks ago that allows an attacker to gain root privileges. Most people, though, are probably more interested in what the vulnerability is and how it might affect them.

The problem is a root privilege escalation bug. Every Unix system, and OS X is no exception, has many hidden users defined by the system, besides the one or more that the average person is aware of. The root user is the highest of these, the one and only user that has access to everything. For this reason, access to the root user is tightly controlled. An attacker with root privileges can literally do anything to your system.

Public Wi-Fi networks — like those in coffee shops or hotels — are not nearly as safe as you think. Even if they have a password, you're sharing a network with tons of other people, which means your data is at risk. Here's how to stay safe when you're out and about.

Just because most wireless routers have a firewall to protect you from the internet doesn't mean you're protected from others connected to the same network. It's remarkably easy to steal someone's username and password, or see what they're doing just by being on the same network. Don't take that chance. We're going to show you which settings are the most important ones.

Apple issues a statement describing the restrictions it places on the collection of customer data. Responding to concerns that Apple was automatically collecting user location and search query data through its latest Mac operating system, the company issued a statement clarifying its customer data collection policies.

Customers began expressing privacy concerns about the revamped version of Spotlight search that was included in the release. The tool, which offers Google search suggestions, as well as its own Spotlight suggestions, raised the suspicion of users when Apple issued a warning on a support page.