Big Sur, Apple Outages, and Thunderbolt 4 Explained — Mac Geek Gab 844

There’s been a lot of confusion this week, beginning with what “Thunderbolt 4” really means for us Mac users. Thankfully OWC’s Larry O’Connor was able to join John and Dave this week to explain. That’s not all you get, though. Your two favorite geeks carry on with advice about Big Sur, more M1 thoughts, and simply answers to all your questions about everything Mac, Apple, and technological. Press play and enjoy learning at least five new things!

Was Your Mac Slow on Thursday? Apple's OCSP Server Was Likely the Cause

On Thursday, October 12th, right around 3:30pm EST, Apple’s OCSP server stopped responding. On the surface that doesn’t sound like much, but when you stop and realize this is the server responsible for authenticating the certificates at the core of all your apps, it starts to matter.

And matter it did! For about an hour yesterday, Mac apps wouldn’t launch (or would launch slowly), rebooting was super-slow (for the same reason), and even Zoom connections took minutes to connect.

Facebook Credit Card Scam Exposed via Data Leak

A phishing and credit card fraud operation has been targeting Facebook users and was recently uncovered due to an exposed database.

The fraudsters used the stolen login credentials to share spam comments on Facebook posts via the victims hacked account, directing people to their network of scam websites. These websites all eventually led to a fake Bitcoin trading platform used to scam people out of ‘deposits’ of at least €250.

However, the day after we discovered the database, it was attacked by the ongoing widespread Meow cyberattack, which completely wiped all its data.

Vertafore Data Breach Affects 27.7 Million Texan Drivers

Insurance software company Vertafore disclosed a data breach in which an unknown third-party accessed the personal information of 27.7 million drivers in Texas.

The incident is believed to have taken place sometime between March 11 and August 1, and happened as a result of human error when three data files were inadvertently stored in an unsecured external storage service.

Exposed data included Texas driver license numbers, names, dates of birth, addresses, and vehicle registration histories.