Mac

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Newly Discovered 'OSX.CDDS' Implant Targets Visitors to Hong Kong Websites

Andrew Orr ·

Google’s Threat Analysis Group discovered a new macOS implant that security researcher Patrick Wardle dubbed OSX.CDDS. It targets “visitors to Hong Kong websites for a media outlet and a prominent pro-democracy labor and political group.”

Notable features for this backdoor include: victim device fingerprinting, screen capture, file download/upload, executing terminal commands, audio recording, keylogging.

Topaz Labs Updates ‘Video Enhance AI’ With Apple M1 Support
Cool Stuff Found

Topaz Labs Updates 'Video Enhance AI' With Apple M1 Support

Andrew Orr ·

Video Enhance AI is now compatible with Apple’s M1 chips in its latest update, version 2.6. Other features: New Chronos Fast AI model – Built for high-resolution video clips with fast motion, delivering 2-3x faster performance than the current Chronos v2 AI model. New Proteus, Artemis, and Dione AI models – Optimized to be about 30% faster on Windows computers while providing improved quality compared to previous models. Refinements to these AI models also increase video quality compared to previous versions. Download for macOS.

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Disk Utility Can Now Manage Snapshots in macOS Monterey

Andrew Orr ·

Disk Utility can now manage AFPS snapshots, no matter which app created them, in macOS Monterey.

This new feature is cunningly hidden so that you don’t notice this huge leap forward when you first open the app. To engage its new powers, select a volume and use the Show APFS Snapshots command in its View menu. This opens a new table view in the lower part of the main view in which the selected volume’s snapshots are listed.

Update for Menu Bar Organizer ‘Bartender’ Supports MacBook Pro Notch
Cool Stuff Found

Update for Menu Bar Organizer 'Bartender' Supports MacBook Pro Notch

Andrew Orr ·

Bartender 4.1.12 has been released as a test build and it adds support for the notch on the 2021 MacBook Pro. “If you are using a MacBook Pro Notch, I recommend you use the Bartender Bar, as this removes the limit of the notch on the number of menu bar items you can have, you could also use Small menu bar item spacing to gain more room. You can update to the latest Test Build by clicking the button below, or from Bartender Prefercnes > Advanced, Check to Update your Test Builds then click the Check for Updates button.”

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'Shrootless' macOS Bug Could Bypass System Integrity Protection

Andrew Orr ·

Microsoft reported a macOS vulnerability it calls Shrootless. It could let an attacker bypass SIP and perform arbitrary operations on the device. It has been patched by Apple with the most recent Mac updates this week.

We found that the vulnerability lies in how Apple-signed packages with post-install scripts are installed. A malicious actor could create a specially crafted file that would hijack the installation process. After bypassing SIP’s restrictions, the attacker could then install a malicious kernel driver (rootkit), overwrite system files, or install persistent, undetectable malware, among others.

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Kandji Announces 'Passport' for Secure Mac Authentication

Andrew Orr ·

Kandji has announced the release of Passport, an authentication product that creates a seamless, one-password sign-in experience for users.

Kandji Passport validates the credentials a user provides during Mac login against an organization’s cloud-based identity provider (IdP), so users need to remember just one password for both their Mac computers and the organization’s single sign-on (SSO) provider. Passport provides a native Mac login experience while streamlining device configuration, management, and security tasks for IT admins.

‘Data Jar’ App For Shortcuts Has Arrived on macOS Monterey
Cool Stuff Found

'Data Jar' App For Shortcuts Has Arrived on macOS Monterey

Andrew Orr ·

Data Jar is a Shortcuts-adjacent app that lets you store data for use in a shortcut as persistent key-value pairs. You can store text, numbers, booleans, lists, dictionaries, and files. This lets you read and update data directly from Shortcuts. As an example of how I use Data Jar, I have a shortcut that lets me rename a bunch of files at once. Some files are renamed sequentially and Data Jar helps me store the latest number for the files, and it gets updated with every new file I rename with it. It’s a great app, free for Mac and I personally recommend giving a big tip to the developer if you find Data Jar useful.

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How Well Do the M1 Pro and M1 Pro Max Chips Handle Games?

Andrew Orr ·

Apple said that its latest chips, the M1 Pro | Pro Max are great for content creators like developers and photographers. What about gamers?

All games were run at a full-HD-equivalent resolution (1,920 by 1,200 pixels) because the two new MacBook Pros have differing native display resolutions. (Testing at each laptop’s native resolution would have rendered the scores non-comparable.)