The newsletter is a bit later than usual tonight. I was attending the new Jamf 370 Security class and the exam was this afternoon. Thanks to Peter and Daryl for leading the class!
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New eBook: Apple Mac Security for Enterprise
The year is coming to an end and some people might be thinking about their resolutions and if they can finish some in time. Apple seems to want to finish up some loose ends as well. Apple’s open source page got a new look. We also got a release candidate for the macOS 12.1 and iOS 15.2 updates and siblings.
We also had quite a few security stories this week and many other interesting posts from fellow MacAdmins. Thank you!
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.)
News and Opinion
- William Cook, RIP – Michael Tsai
- Well-Known Apple Developers Support Manifesto for Ubiquitous Linking – Adam Engst, TidBITS
- Apple chief says Apple Business Essentials doesn’t compete with Jamf – William Gallagher, AppleInsider
- Taking a Look at Apple Business Essentials for Small and Medium Business – Mobile Jon’s Blog
- The Accomplishment Spreadsheet – Graham Gilbert
- An update on App Installers – Jamf Nation Community
- Honest Security: One Year Later. It’s been one year since Kolide… – Jason Meller, Kolide
macOS 12 Monterey and iOS 15
MacAdmins on Twitter
- Tim Perfitt: “I created a macOS app for our signing service to export identities from macOS keychain and encrypt / wrap them with an HSM public key for easy uploading to our service and to an HSM.” (video and thread)
Security and Privacy
- CIS Benchmarks (updated, via mikeymikey)
- Tile owner ‘Life360’ reportedly sells location data of its users to ‘virtually anyone’ – Filipe Espósito, 9to5Mac
- Bypass TCC via privileged helpers aka CVE-2020-10008 – Wojciech Reguła
- Log4Shell: RCE 0-day exploit found in log4j, a popular Java logging package – Free Wortley, Chris Thompson, LunaSec
Support and HowTos
- Explainer: Disk free space – Howard Oakley
- USBefuddled: Untangling the Rat’s Nest of USB-C Standards and Cables – Glenn Fleischmann, TidBITS
- Jamf Now: password sync Preview – Skartek
- xsanctl: unable to connect to xsand & launchd – Eric Hemmeter
- Apple Configurator 2: cfgutil – Michael Rieder
- macOS Monterey: Exploring the redesigned “Go To Folder” – Steve Sande, Rocket Yard
Scripting and Automation
- acodega/mdmNotify: Use DEP Notify, an MDM (like Mosyle), and Installomator for initial Mac deployment
- qrencode – generate ASCII QR codes in macOS terminal – Twocanoes Software (Twitter thread)
- Jamf Pro API for fun and profit – Richard Purves
- Obtaining, checking and renewing Bearer Tokens for the Jamf Pro API – Rich Trouton
Apple Support
Updates and Releases
- Apple Configurator for iPhone
- OneDrive sync for native ARM devices now in public preview – Microsoft
- Suspicious Package 4.1
To Watch
To Listen
- Back in Whack – Mac Power Users
- Streaming, It’s A Good Thing — Command-Control-Power
- Back to conference planning finally – MacDevOpsYVR
- Honest Security, One Year Later – Mac Admins Podcast
- Why Macs are the best, according to Mac expert Thomas Reed – Lock and Code, Malwarebytes Labs
- Breaking down Smart Packs with Claris and iSolutions – Apple @ Work Podcast, 9to5Mac
Just for Fun
Support
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