This week brought more reactions to WWDC news regarding macOS 11 Big Sur, iOS 14, and the Apple Silicon transition. Apple released beta 2 for all the above (excluding the DTK), which were later released as the first public beta. We also got GM betas for macOS Catalina 10.15.6 and iOS 13.6. And a new ransomware named EvilQuest, later changed to ThiefQuest.
Busy week.
If you would rather get the weekly newsletter by email, you can subscribe to the Scripting OS X Weekly Newsletter here!! (Same content, delivered to your Inbox once a week.)
WWDC Reactions
- I Had Been Worried About the Mac – Brent Simmons
- Macs Switching from Intel Chips to Apple Silicon: Answers to Your Questions – HCS Technology Group
News and Opinion
- The rise and fall of Adobe Flash – Richard C. Moss, Ars Technica
- Intel’s Thunderbolt 4 standard looks to raise the bar for USB-C devices – Chaim Gartenberg, The Verge
- Intel details Thunderbolt 4: Required DMA protection, longer cables, and more – Samuel Axon, Ars Technica
- Apple promises to support Thunderbolt on its new ARM Macs – Chaim Gartenberg, The Verge
- Apple expands iPhone repair services to hundreds of new locations across the US – Apple News
- A Moment of Clarity Regarding the Raison d’Etre for the App Store – John Gruber
macOS 11 Big Sur and iOS 14
- Should you beta-test Big Sur? – Howard Oakley
- Ready for Testing: Updated Tech Preview with Big Sur Support – VMware Fusion Blog
- Apple Privacy Changes – Brent Simmons
- On iOS Apps Peeking at Your Clipboard Contents – John Gruber
- Big Sur Beta not Showing up in Software Update + Troubleshooting – Mr Macintosh
- What’s New in macOS Big Sur 11 Beta 2 (20A4300b) – Mr Macintosh
- Apple Opens First Public Betas for iOS, iPadOS, and tvOS 14 – John Voorhees, MacStories
Coronavirus and Remote Work
MacAdmins on Twitter
- Victor (groob): “Erasing macOS beta 1 in recovery and selecting ”Install macOS“ installs beta2. Neat!”
- Mr. Macintosh: “Mobile Accounts are treated as Network Accounts in Big Sur Beta 1 & 2. FB7870925 Not that you needed another reason to move to Local Accounts”
Bugs and Security
- CVE–2020–9771 – mount_apfs TCC bypass and privilege escalation – Csaba Fitzl
- OSX.EvilQuest Uncovered – Patrick Wardle
- Detecting, Preventing, and Remediating EvilQuest Ransomware – Matthias Wollnik, Jamf Blog
- Mac ThiefQuest malware may not be ransomware after all – Thomas Reed, Malwarebytes Labs
- Will macOS protect you from ransomware like ThiefQuest? – Howard Oakley
Support and HowTos
- Drop it! MunkiReport Db hacking – DAM SAN
- Using Jamf Connect with G Suite Cloud Identity – HCS Technology Group
- Setting up Synology’s reverse proxy server – Mike Solin
- Recommendations and Practices for Content Caching – HCS Technology Group
- How to Decode Apple Version and Build Numbers – David Shayer, TidBITS
- Fleetsmith Replacement: How to Migrate to SimpleMDM – SimpleMDM
- Jamf School and installer packages – Patrick van Nerum
- How macOS overrides app behaviour, including quarantine – Howard Oakley
- The art of speeding up support: logs! – Frederick Abeloos
Scripting and Automation
- Why Big Sur won’t stumble over version numbers – Howard Oakley
- PatchBot – Zero Touch Patch Management #2 – Tony Williams, [#3](https://macintoshguy.wordpress.com/2020/07/08/patchbot–3/), [#4](https://macintoshguy.wordpress.com/2020/07/10/patchbot–4/)
- Go for endpoint management – Graham Gilbert
- Use scout to read Property Lists – Scripting OS X
Apple Support
Updates and Releases
To Listen
- Online Identity with Chris Johnson – MacDevOpsYVR
- Finding Your Way Through The Chicane — Command-Control-Power
- Pulling apart the Internet of Things with JP Taggart – Malwarebytes Labs
- The intersection of identity and device management – Apple @ Work Podcast
Support
If you are enjoying what you are reading here, please spread the word and recommend it to another Mac Admin!
- Weblog
- Weekly Email Newsletter (TinyLetter)
- Apple News
- Micro.blog
- Mastodon.social
If you want to support me and this website even further, then consider buying one (or all) of my books. It’s like a subscription fee, but you also get a useful book or two extra!