Serious security threats involving Java have been a recurring theme for Mac users in recent months. But what exactly is Java, and what’s the problem? What’s this Java Runtime you hear about from time to time? And is JavaScript the same thing? Grab a cup of coffee and join Joe Kissell for the story of Java in this installment of FlippedBITS.

Apple recently updated Safari with a new security feature for managing Java plug-in usage on a site-by-site basis, and also updated Java itself for Mountain Lion, Lion, and Snow Leopard.

Bootable duplicates are an important part of a complete backup strategy. But when you have to boot a Mac from such a disk — even if only temporarily — things may not always behave as you expect. Joe Kissell sheds light on some of the common points of pain and confusion when starting a Mac from a duplicate.

Fixes yet another round of critical vulnerabilities. (Free, 63.8 MB and 69.3 MB)

Notable software releases this week include Scrivener 2.4, CrashPlan 3.5.2, DEVONthink and DEVONnote 2.5, and PDFpen and PDFpenPro 5.9.5 — all apps that, coincidentally, we’ve covered in Take Control books.

Maintenance release to the Internet backup app adds Retina display support, but drops support for 10.4 Tiger. (Free with a 30-day trial of the CrashPlan+ online backup service, 21.2 MB)

As is our tradition, we’re taking the last few weeks of the year off to spend time with family and friends, so look for the next email issue of TidBITS on 7 January 2013. But we’ll continue posting new articles to our Web site, and TidBITS Talk will also continue apace.

The Internet backup software gains the capability to work through a proxy server and addresses a few minor bugs. (Free with a 30-day trial of the CrashPlan+ online backup service, 19 MB)

The latest update to the file sharing client promises to improve startup time and overall performance. (Free, 23.1 MB)

With nine of our ebooks focusing on or recently updated for Mountain Lion, we’re having a 50-percent-off sale so you can make sure you have all the latest expert advice from people like Joe Kissell, Glenn Fleishman, Michael Cohen, Sharon Zardetto, and Kirk McElhearn.

If you found the recent hack of technology writer Mat Honan as unsettling as we did, tune in to TidBITS Presents “Protecting Your Digital Life,” recorded live on 22 August 2012. Security experts Rich Mogull and Joe Kissell share their recommendations for the best things you can do to ensure that your digital life can’t be laid bare for virtual vultures to peck through.

Our always-chatty computers and mobile devices have an all-you-can-eat mentality that can be wildly inappropriate when we’re either in a low-bandwidth situation or when we’re trying to keep bandwidth usage in budget or under a cap. We detail strategies for restricting your bandwidth diet.

Sometimes it’s hard to know how cloud providers protect your data, and if they can take a peek. Security Editor Rich Mogull shows you how you can figure out for yourself just how secure your cloud-hosted data and files are.

Apple has released an update to its Java runtime engine to, among other things, fix a vulnerability that’s been exploited by variants of the Flashback malware. Doctor Web, an antivirus software developer in Russia, says as many as 600,000 Macs have been infected with the malware. We run down what’s known about Flashback and how you can protect yourself.

We love the CrashPlan backup program and service because of all the places it can store your data, but we’ll be the first to admit that CrashPlan has a somewhat odd interface that benefits from the kind of thorough documentation that only Joe Kissell can provide.

Adds menu bar icon for accessing backup destination status plus new automatic pause options based on battery level and network interface/connection. (Free with 30-day online backup trial, 17.8 MB)

An iPad 2 or iPhone 4S can mirror its display on an Apple TV, but not on a Mac. With the Mac OS X application Reflection, the iOS screen can now be mirrored on your Mac — perfect for giving presentations or recording what’s happening on the device.

Want to blog occasionally, without the fuss of learning new software or setting up a complex account with a blog posting service like WordPress? Calepin, a free blogging service that leverages Dropbox and relies on text files written with Markdown formatting, may be just the ticket.

We’re taking the last two weeks of the year off, so look for the next email issue of TidBITS on 2 January 2012. But we’ll continue posting new articles to our Web site, and TidBITS Talk will also continue apace.

Frustrated by the pile of paperwork that accompanies having a 7th grader in the public school system, Tonya Engst turns to technology for the solution, in the form of a Fujitsu ScanSnap document scanner.