The year is just starting, but Apple is waking up nearly as fast as an M1 MacBook Air. We got new betas for macOS 11.2 and iOS 14.4. MacAdmins have been busy, too. Thank you for all the great articles!
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News and Opinion
- A pragmatic approach to endpoint security – Graham Gilbert
- Apple launches major new Racial Equity and Justice Initiative projects to challenge systemic racism, advance racial equity nationwide – Apple
macOS 11 Big Sur and Apple silicon Macs
- MDM Kernel Extension Install Support in Big Sur – Nathaniel Strauss
- What Is Apple’s “Thunderbolt / USB 4” vs. PC-Windows Thunderbolt 4? – OWC Rocket Yard
- Big Sur: Lost Properties – Shane Stanley, Late Night Software
macOS and iOS Updates
MacAdmins on Twitter
- Hector Martin: “So I’m working in understanding the Apple Silicon boot/OS provisioning process. This is all subject to change, but here are some takeaways according to my current understanding.” (Thread)
- Joel Rennich: “While it still needs work, specifically around how Apple gates token access, this is PKINIT on an iPhone using the Single Sign On Extension and a CryptoToken Kit extension at the same time.” (Movie, thread)
- Patrick Wardle: “The ContentFilterExclusionList list has been removed (in macOS 11.2 beta 2)!! This means socket filter firewalls (such as LuLu) can now comprehensively monitor & block all network traffic)”
Bugs and Security
- CVE-2020-9971 Abusing XPC Service mechanism to elevate privilege in macOS/iOS – Zhipeng Huo, Tencent Security Xuanwu Lab
- Adventures in Reversing Malicious Run-Only AppleScripts – Phil Stokes, SentinelLabs
- 15 macOS Power Tricks for Security Pros, Phil Stokes, SentinelLabs
- Reminder: iMessage Not Meaningfully E2E – Michael Tsai
Support and HowTos
- Understanding the Jamf Connect Authchanger – Frederick Abeloos
- Using the Kensington SD5600T with Boot Camp – John C Welch
- Last Week on My Mac: Intricacies of the boot disk – Howard Oakley
- Moving away from Server.app to Jamf Pro – Doeke Zanstra
- Granting Full Disk Access to Malwarebytes – Nathaniel Strauss
- Renaming Computers via Snipe-IT using Jamf Pro – Matthew Warren
- Managing macOS Notification Center settings using a Jamf profile – Alan Siu
Scripting and Automation
- Switch AutoPkg recipes to HTTPS – Elliot Jordan
- Jamf Pro : contrôler quand installer un profil durant le déploiement (Control when to deploy a profile during enrollment) –Guillaume Gète.
- Reinstall a clean macOS with one button – Bill Smith, Jamf
Updates and Releases
- Objective-See: LuLu 2.1 (Universal)
- Drive File Stream release notes (Universal version scheduled for April 2021)
To Listen
- Honest Security with Jason Meller – Mac Admins Podcast
- Waiting For Godot — Command-Control-Power
- Goodbye 2020, Hello 2021! – MacDevOpsYVR
MacAdmin Pet of the Week
New Section! If you aren’t yet following Tim Perfitt of Twocanoes (MDS, Winclone and many other useful tools) on Twitter, maybe the litter of puppies they are fostering right now will convince you.
(If you have a pet you’d like to share here, ping me on Slack or Twitter.)
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