Less than two weeks to WWDC and we got the macOS Big Sur 11.4 and iOS 14.6 updates with siblings.
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Performance vs Security
Apple is inventing new names, new architecture, and new challenges. Here’s why your macOS EDR solution shouldn’t be running under Rosetta 2. Let’s dive in!
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Even without the updates this would have been a long summary as we have many interesting posts and updates.
Apple has published a new set of interactive tutorials: Deployment and Management. These look very interesting. I have only been able to briefly skim over it—Apple claims it will take close to 12 hours (!) to work through them all.
The tutorials are based on using Profile Manager in macOS Server, which is… well… They also focus on iOS clients, with very little macOS specific information. But they should still be able to give a good introduction to several concepts and workflows.
Definitely a promising new offering from Apple and I am looking forward to working through this and hope there will be more like this coming for Apple Adminstrators!
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News and Opinion
- Apple’s Worldwide Developers Conference kicks off June 7 – Apple
- New Apple Developer Forums features now available – Apple Developer
- Apple Admit It: Macs Have a Malware Problem – Phil Stokes, SentinelOne
Upcoming Conferences
We have four (!) virtual conferences coming up! Each with a different format and approach, but I am sure all will be interesting.
I will be speaking about “Presenting Online” (very meta) at MacDeployment and about “Packages” at MacDevOps YVR. Looking forward to seeing you there.
- Apple’s Worldwide Developers Conference kicks off June 7 – Apple
- MacDeployment: June 1-2, sessions
- MacAdmins Campfire Sessions: Thursdays in June and July, schedule
- MacDevOps YVR: June 9-11, schedule
(Continually updated list of MacAdmin related conferences.)
macOS and iOS Updates
- macOS Big Sur 11.4
- What’s new for enterprise in macOS Big Sur 11.4
- macOS Big Sur 11.4 Developer Release Notes
- iOS 14.6
- What’s new for enterprise in iOS 14.6
- iPadOS 14.6
- What’s new for enterprise in iPadOS 14.6
- iOS & iPadOS 14.6 Developer Release Notes
- watchOS 7.5
Guides
(all user guide updates via @Schoun)
- Mobile Device Management Settings (updated)
- Apple School Manager User Guide (updated)
- Apple Business Manager User Guide (updated)
- Education Deployment Guide (updated)
- Managing Software Updates with MDM — Deployment and Management Tutorials
Security
- About the security content of macOS Big Sur 11.4 – Apple Support
- About the security content of Security Update 2021-003 Catalina
- About the security content of Security Update 2021-004 Mojave
- About the security content of iOS 14.6 and iPadOS 14.6
- About the security content of watchOS 7.5
- About the security content of tvOS 14.6
(Perma-list of relevant Apple Support pages..)
Reactions
- Apple has released Big Sur 11.4 update, and Security Updates for Catalina and Mojave – Howard Oakley
- macOS Big Sur 11.4 Update (20F71) is Live! What’s New? – Mr. Macintosh
- What has changed in Big Sur 11.4? – Howard Oakley
- iOS 14.6 Emoji Changelog
- M1 Macs running Big Sur 11.4 support external disks fully – Howard Oakley
MacAdmins on Twitter
- mikeymikey: “Hey. You. Vendor for macOS that is trying to rely on python. … you do know that python3 is not -actually- part of macOS, right? Like … it -only- works if the user also has Xcode / the developer command-line tools installed (neither of which are included by default in macOS)”
- John C. Welch: “If you want to see if a company really cares about details, their installer/uninstaller is the fastest, most reliable thing to check.”
Security and Privacy
- macOS MS Office Sandbox Brain Dump – Cedric Owens
- Zero-Day TCC bypass discovered in XCSSET malware – Jaron Bradley, Jamf Blog
- M1RACLES: M1ssing Register Access Controls Leak EL0 State (Be sure to read this to the end. Worth it.)
- TeamViewer Local Privilege Escalation Vulnerability – Csaba Fitzl
Support and HowTos
- Blocking account logins to the ?failover login page on Jamf Pro – Rich Trouton
- M1 Recovery Requires Mouse or Trackpad – Twocanoes Software
- Using curl for telnet testing on macOS High Sierra and later – Rich Trouton (I use and prefer
nc -z, as does Peter Bukowski, but it is good know of alternatives.) - The guide to a successful Jamf Pro on-premises upgrade – Darren Wallace, dataJAR
- Kerberos SSO Extensions in a Enterprise environment – Michael Rieder
- How to Create a “Never-Run” VM Snapshot With VMware Fusion Player For Testing Automated Device Enrollment – HCS Technology Group
Scripting and Automation
Apple Support
Updates and Releases
To Watch
To Listen
- Yoann talks Credentia – Mac Admins Podcast
- Shining a light on dark patterns with Carey Parker: Lock and Code, Malwarebytes Labs
- Devolving Into Chaos — Command-Control-Power
- Apple Dreams of Data driven MDM – MacDevOpsYVR
- Mosyle launches free edition and Mosyle Fuse to take MDM to the next level – Apple @ Work Podcast, 9to5Mac
Just for Fun
- A Palazzo Reborn: Inside Apple’s Stunning New Store in Via del Corso, Rome – Federico Viticci, MacStories
- Apple Via del Corso opens Thursday, May 27, in Rome – Apple
- – iMac M1 24″ Teardown – iFixit
Support
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