Macs2u

05/11/2021

Monterey update

Apple is now including a firmware update to the installer to fix a problem where some Intel macs with the T2 chip wouldn’t start after an attempted instal.

It has been a bit of a rocky start.

As usual I’d advise making haste slowly with new versions of the macOS.

04/11/2021

MacOS Monterey

Recently introduced, but I don’t recommend upgrading.

Multiple reports of the upgrade ”bricking” older Macs are developing. A previous system, Catalina, was often also problematic on many older Macs. The way apple shows software updates is, at best confusing, many people only see the major OS update at the top, and miss the smaller ”more info” where updates for the exisiting system are relegated to.

Any new OS tends to be a bit of a gamble, Monterey got good write ups initially but now there are many very unhappy people with older Macs that won’t turn on. Unless there is a compelling need, avoid Monterey until the bugs are ironed out.

06/08/2021

Admirable aim but a terrible ex*****on.

Data privacy is an important issue, once lost it won’t be regained. Criminals may hide behind some forms of protection, but for the majority of innocent people to have a huge risk to their privacy because of the actions of a small minority, no matter how despicable, is an unacceptable price to pay.

Please consider signing.

Read and sign the open letter protesting against Apple's roll-out of new content-scanning technology that threatens to overturn individual privacy on a global scale, and to reverse progress achieved with end-to-end encryption for all.

26/07/2021

And even more updates

To tackle threats in the wild, i.e. being used to attack devices.
Big sur, iOS, iPadOS, and watchOS.
Update soon!

21/07/2021

More updates

Big Sur, Catalina and Mohave all get important security updates, as does iPadOS.

The Mac updates are described as:
Apple released critical security updates for macOS 10.14 Mojave and macOS 10.15 Catalina to patch vulnerabilities that allow complete takeover of a Mac via malicious files, web content, etc., which can “execute arbitrary code with kernel privileges.”

It would be wise to aplly these asap.

21/07/2021

More Malware

a new variant of an originally Windows only attack is on thenincrease and attacking Macs. Its the third most prevalent attack at the moment and the top 2 are windows only. Somfar its mainly US but european attacks are rising.

This malware can be bought as a serbice and is simple for people buy and use, and at $49 it is cheap!

”There’s a new version of the old FormBook form-stealer and keylogger that’s added Mac users to its hit list, and it’s selling like hotcakes on underground markets for as low as $49.

It’s not only cheap; it’s easy. The data stealer is distributed in the form of malware-as-a-service (MaaS) and stands out from competing malware by being drop-dead simple to use, outfitting even code dummies with a multipurpose malware tool.”

As usual be very careful with links in emails.

20/07/2021

More Security Woes

The peagaus attack is bad and worrying but and old problem has resurfaced.

An issue with WiFi on the iPhone had a patch that has been found to not solve all the security issues. Joining a malicious netwoek can allow malware infections and data theft. We can assume Apple will peoduce a bug fix but meanwhile, this is vood advice:

“Since this vulnerability was widely published, and relatively easy to notice, we are highly confident that various threat actors have discovered the same information we did, and we would like to encourage an issuance of a patch as soon as possible,” they said.

In the meantime, users can disable the Wi-Fi Auto-Join feature via Settings->WiFi->Auto-Join Hotspot->Never. Also, iPhone enthusiasts should avoid connecting to unknown Wi-Fi hotspots in general, and especially any that contain the “@” symbol to avoid this specific attack

19/07/2021

Cracks and Updates
lots of stories on targeted cracks on android and iPhone today. No fixes or removal methods announced yet but it does seem to be quite targeted but exposes some serious insecurities that need to be fixed asap.

iOS
watchOS
tvOS
all recieved updates today, soem bug fixes and security updates.

16/07/2021

Yet another Chrome update to fix a live exploit today

Update Chrome and similar browsers (Brave, Opera etc) asap both on Mac and iPhone. Attacks seem to be becoming more regular recently.

28/06/2021

Western Digital My Book Live Drive issues

Some cloud/local storage devices made by WD are having all their data deleted, and the users WD account password may be being reset making it inaccessible.

I don’t see many clients with this type of cloud storage, but this is very serious, WD advises disconnectimg the devices until further notice.

PRODUCT SECURITY BULLETIN UPDATE Western Digital has determined that some My Book Live devices are being compromised by malicious software. In some cases, this compromise has led to a factory reset that appears to erase all data on the device. The My Book Live device received its final firmware upda...

23/06/2021

Emergency Alerts

The USA has had an emergency alert system for some time, sending automated messages to mobiles.

You may soon get alerts on your iPhone the government is starting tests soon. There is a way of opting out if the prove annoying.

How to turn off emergency alerts on Android phones and tablets, and iPhones

03/05/2021

Critical Updates

Thought to be actively being exploited, update soon.

Apple just issued software security updates to patch a critical vulnerability in its web software that’s being actively exploited. There are updates to Apple’s latest Mac and mobile operating systems, as well as to iOS 12 for older Apple mobile devices incompatible with its latest software.

macOS Big Sur 11.3.1
iOS 14.5.1 and iPadOS 14.5.1
iOS 12.5.3
watchOS 7.4.1