Alert | Mac Sage

Move To Leopard Could Prove Troublesome

by patrick

As the debut of Apple’s latest operating system nears, the rumblings about incompatibilities and problems increases. Although the new features are impressive, the problems and barriers to easy upgrade for exiting Tiger users is making quick adoption more difficult.

It’s not clear to me that this new OS will make my life easier/better in the educational environment I manage. For the first time, I will be testing this OS on a non-essential machine, and watching carefully the feedback from folks on several online forums. My move to Leopard will be slow and careful, despite my enthusiasm for new technology.

Check these concerns about Leopard: Leopard Compatibility

Safari 3 beta Has Problems

by patrick

Well, yes, it’s beta software. But news of bugs and some vulnerabilities is making for some heated discussions at some of the popular forums like SlashDot. The news has apparently gained some traction in the business community, as APPL dropped by almost $4 a share in early trading today. Some of this may also be due to Job’s announcement that development for the iPhone will be limited.

Adobe CS3 and Firewall

by patrick

For folks installing or upgrading to Adobe’s CS3, beware that installation of the Adobe Version Cue CS3 turns off your firewall and leaves it in that state.

It seems that a new rule is added to the firewall settings allowing TCP access to ports 3703, 3704, 50900 and 50901. Presumably, this is so Version Cue can download and install updates. However, in this process, the firewall gets turned off. It seems that the installation script fails to turn it back on after the installation is complete.

Check your firewall settings if you’ve recently installed Adobe CS3!

MacLockPick: Friend or Foe?

by patrick

As our privacy rights are continually eroded in this country, we’ll probably begin seeing more applications like this one making an appearance. Although MacLockPick is supposedly not for sale to the general public (only licensed law-enforcement may purchase the product), we all know that these things tend to find an underground distribution chain. So, it’s best to be aware of these things.

It appears that MacLockPick makes use of the loose security settings that come standard on the Mac (especially KeyChain). These steps will greatly increase the security (and privacy) of your Mac.

Go to the Utilities folder
Open the KeyChain Access application
Under ‘Edit’ select ‘Change settings for KeyChain …’
In the Settings window, check ‘Lock after X minutes of inactivity’
Also check ‘Lock When Sleeping’

If you use the ‘Remember passwords’ on your browser, you should also enable a master password (in FireFox) to encrypt this information.

I will report here as more information on how this software is able to defeat Mac OS X security appears.

OS X Security Expert’s Advice

by patrick

As a long-time Mac and OS X fan, it’s painful to admit. But truth is truth, and folks should know.

Apparently, the good people at the CanSec West security conference offered a $10,000.00 prize for anyone able to hack into a Mac running OS X. Well, someone (Dino Dai Zovi) managed to gain shell access to a Mac by allegedly pointing the Mac

Mac Sage

Move To Leopard Could Prove Troublesome

Safari 3 beta Has Problems

Adobe CS3 and Firewall

MacLockPick: Friend or Foe?

OS X Security Expert’s Advice

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