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macOS 11’s hidden security improvements

blog.malwarebytes.com

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Re: macOS 11’s hidden security improvements

#61

Post by bdamm »

smoldesu wrote: post #39
hdjjhhvvhga wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

On the other hand, Linux is getting better and better. And with the prevalence of web apps, the main obstacle to running non (MS | Apple) systems is getting smaller. With Linux, you can adjust the level of security you need and you keep the key. Security improvements appear also in BSDs, especially OpenBSD, but honestly I wouldn't recommend people used to macOS to switch to OpenBSD (yet).

This, a million times. Now that Mojave is starting to get dropped, Linux is exactly what the doctor ordered for me. I feel a lot safer in a system where I can check the locks instead of being told "the door's closed, you're fine."

Make no mistake, there are back doors into Linux as well.

Re: macOS 11’s hidden security improvements

#62

Post by h4x0r12345 »

bdamm wrote: post #61
smoldesu wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This, a million times. Now that Mojave is starting to get dropped, Linux is exactly what the doctor ordered for me. I feel a lot safer in a system where I can check the locks instead of being told "the door's closed, you're fine."

Make no mistake, there are back doors into Linux as well.

Back doors in the Linux kernel source code? No. Back doors in GNU/Linux distribution repositories? Maybe.

Re: macOS 11’s hidden security improvements

#63

Post by hackshack »

GekkePrutser wrote: post #28
hdjjhhvvhga wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

On the other hand, Linux is getting better and better. And with the prevalence of web apps, the main obstacle to running non (MS | Apple) systems is getting smaller. With Linux, you can adjust the level of security you need and you keep the key. Security improvements appear also in BSDs, especially OpenBSD, but honestly I wouldn't recommend people used to macOS to switch to OpenBSD (yet).

Indeed. I switched to FreeBSD myself. Reasons were the excellent jails system, the ports collection, the ZFS on root (though Ubuntu is starting to offer that) and the great documentation. I also don't like the scale of corporate involvement in Linux development. In the end that leads to companies trying to insert their own IP with a view to monetisation (like Ubuntu with Mir, Upstart, now snaps). It's also the most s…

A bit off-topic, but as a FreeBSD newbie: This summer I switched my ~6 home servers from CentOS to FreeBSD and absolutely love it. Trigger event was trying to set up a dedicated Linux VM for Ubiquiti's UniFi controller software. I was really fighting various dependencies in CentOS, then Ubuntu Server, then Debian... and saw that FreeBSD had an up-to-date package. Newbie FreeBSD user, from ISO install in a VM, to running Unifi Controller, took maybe 45 minutes. I was impressed and as I dug deeper, I began to appreciate its design.

As a 20+ year Linux user and 10+ year paid Linux admin, BSD has really connected with me as a sysadmin. Besides the clean filesystem structure and updated docs, there's generally "one way to do something" (looking at you, Red Hat...) and surprisingly, the packages are more up to date than I'm used to in CentOS / Ubuntu Server, usually tracking the latest stable releases. For the core system, there appears to be no update churn as with Linux distros.

After I discovered the FreeBSD images for the Raspberry Pi, it scratched my tinkerer itch and now... yeah.

People joke about The Year of Linux on the Desktop, but I believe we've been there since ~2014, when Chromebooks started to really get good. Goes to show a full "desktop environment," as we know it, isn't always needed for a great experience.

Re: macOS 11’s hidden security improvements

#64

Post by kdtsh »

motoboi wrote: post #46
robbyking wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's the year of the Linux desktop!

It has been Linux desktop year for at least 15 years now. The state of Linux Desktop has actually being getting worse, not better. From a top with Ubuntu in the first 5 years, to the sad state we see now.

Strongly disagree. The experience of Linux on desktop computers has never been better, and has been steadily improving for years. ‘Year of the Linux Desktop’ is of course a meme so it doesn’t really matter how long it has been current year, the fact is that every DE is improving and it has never been easier to be a Linux user.

If there is any criticism that can be made, it’s that the amount of choice can be overwhelming - there are dozens of highly polished, functional distributions - but once you get past that there is no practical limit except the way that Microsoft products like Office are locked away (even this is improving, since you can use Office online).

Re: macOS 11’s hidden security improvements

#65

Post by thevagrant »

motoboi wrote: post #46
robbyking wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's the year of the Linux desktop!

It has been Linux desktop year for at least 15 years now. The state of Linux Desktop has actually being getting worse, not better. From a top with Ubuntu in the first 5 years, to the sad state we see now.

Give KDE a try on Opensuse Tumbleweed or perhaps KDE Neon. Desktop on linux has improved a lot.

Re: macOS 11’s hidden security improvements

#66

Post by IncRnd »

pram wrote: post #51
taylorfinley wrote: post #47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's the joke. It's been the 'Year of The Linux Desktop!' at least since my senior year of high school, which was all the way back in 2002.

Although you could literally buy a desktop with Linux at Walmart in 2001 so, maybe that actually was the year.

Except, those quickly disappeared. That's the essence of the joke that was mentioned. Each year was called the year of the Linux Desktop, but it never happened.

Re: macOS 11’s hidden security improvements

#67

Post by nuker »

GekkePrutser wrote: post #11

Sounds good but a problem with Apple's latest releases are that a lot of its security features listen only to Apple and not to the user. This doesn't concern most of the improvements mentioned in the article, those are purely technical improvements at a very low level. But the signed system volume for example (also mentioned), while a good idea, lacks a convenient way for the user to make changes to it. I'm not very…

> signed system volume for example (also mentioned), while a good idea, lacks a convenient way for the user to make changes to it.

MacOS has no convenient way to know if changes are made by the user or malware. It is a feature, not a bug, for most users. Why would you need to change system volume anyway?

Re: macOS 11’s hidden security improvements

#68

Post by salamandersauce »

breakfastduck wrote: post #56
hdjjhhvvhga wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

On the other hand, Linux is getting better and better. And with the prevalence of web apps, the main obstacle to running non (MS | Apple) systems is getting smaller. With Linux, you can adjust the level of security you need and you keep the key. Security improvements appear also in BSDs, especially OpenBSD, but honestly I wouldn't recommend people used to macOS to switch to OpenBSD (yet).

You get that. And about a million tradeoffs in terms of usability. No thanks. Edit: To those downvoting. If you genueinly think running linux isn't a UIUX downgrade on macOS you are totally deluded. Its more open. Cool. It's also a UX nightmare.

Nah. It's great. You can view hidden files in the file manager without memorizing a keyboard shortcut or terminal command. Most Window managers don't rely on track pad gestures and so the mouse feels like a first class citizen. Window management in the big DEs is better than macOS. MacOS is a frustrating mess to me.

Re: macOS 11’s hidden security improvements

#70

Post by dev_tty01 »

GekkePrutser wrote: post #48
cma wrote: post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Won't the next update still wipe out your system changes, putting you back to insecure openssh password auth, etc., or do they have a system to merge your changes over now?

Exactly. This is the #1 problem I have with the implementation: I want to set up public-key authentication as the only option on openssh ("Remote Login").

You create and run one fixup script as root to modify /etc/ssh/sshd_config. That is root writable and not protected by SIP. It is a tiny hassle, but really no big deal. The fixup script can handle any of these cases, assuming they are in config files that are writable.
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