Earlier quoted context omitted.
I’m not sure it’s sensible to call these “protections” - they’re closer to security theater.
Can you give an example of what you consider proper protections?
Ever heard of crowdstrike?
Bypassing Firewalls in macOS Big Sur
41–50 of 251 posts
Re: Bypassing Firewalls in macOS Big Sur
#42This whole release cycle is just one gigantic facepalm after another. I am feeling pretty heavily smug that I got rid of my Apple kit earlier this year because I wasn't happy with the direction of the platform.
What did you move to?
Windows 10 and WSL.
Have not found a good successor to Devonthink Pro though.
Re: Bypassing Firewalls in macOS Big Sur
#43This seems so negligent it's difficult for me to believe this was a mistake. Perhaps it could be argued that Apple doesn't want applications blocking the network traffic of trusted applications because there is limited upside to doing so and doing so may restrict core functionality such as system updates, etc. But surely the most reasonable explanation here is that Apple wants a back door to guarantee they can monito…
No, that is not the most reasonable expectation. Fails both Occam's Razor and the laugh test. To believe this, one has to believe that a $2 trillion company did this on purpose, knowing it would be revealed within hours and that it would take a major hit on the very reputation for user privacy and security that they have spent years building. There are a lot of better explanations available than "Apple decided user s…
Maybe you're right – I am quite a paranoid person.
I guess I just don't understand how this wasn't flagged as a concern when the feature was being worked on? How is it possible that Apple's engineering team built a backdoor like this without it raising serious security concerns? And if concerns were raised why was this not adequately pen tested prior to release?
I'm not sure what's worse from a reputational perspective... A company that prides itself on privacy but can't get something as basic as a firewall right, or a company that knows how to write secure software but occasionally puts backdoors in them for intelligence agencies?
Re: Bypassing Firewalls in macOS Big Sur
#44[deleted]
Re: Bypassing Firewalls in macOS Big Sur
#45This seems so negligent it's difficult for me to believe this was a mistake. Perhaps it could be argued that Apple doesn't want applications blocking the network traffic of trusted applications because there is limited upside to doing so and doing so may restrict core functionality such as system updates, etc. But surely the most reasonable explanation here is that Apple wants a back door to guarantee they can monito…
In fact, it was so negligent because Apple is actually secretly rebelling against the Illuminati, who forced them to do this, by making such a deliberate cock-up of it that it was discovered within hours of release.
We need to go deeper.
Re: Bypassing Firewalls in macOS Big Sur
#46Re: Bypassing Firewalls in macOS Big Sur
#47Of course when this possibility was raised 25 days ago on HN [1] there was a swarm of apologists who figured the superior Apple services needed no firewall interception (and just 2 days ago we learned that hell yes, they do!) and that this was all by design and impervious to abuse by other apps. Turns out, no, macOS is still written by the same old skeleton crew at Apple and they still introduce trivial problems in m…
In the Vault 7 leaks, Little Snitch was mentioned as something three letter people had problems with circumventing. I think it's worth considering whether this new attack surface is there by design:
Re: Bypassing Firewalls in macOS Big Sur
#48How to disable this feature: https://tinyapps.org/blog/202010210700_whose_computer_is_it.... And a humorous guide on disabling protections like code signing and notarization: https://www.naut.ca/blog/2020/11/13/forbidden-commands-to-li...
Why _should_ you have to disable this feature? Sigh.
My point: opting out should be much, much easier.
Re: Bypassing Firewalls in macOS Big Sur
#49I have no idea how they ever expected this to work. Seems it would be trivial to proxy a c&c through apps with access. All you need is a signal, any signal, to the outside world. If air gaps can be beat, this concept was doomed from the start, unless I'm missing something.
Re: Bypassing Firewalls in macOS Big Sur
#50I hope this proof-of-concept is the last straw that gets Apple to walk this design decision back. Because if it doesn’t, I'm not looking forward to whatever it is that does.