“While some MacBook Pro owners claim macOS 10.12.2 improves battery life, there’s a more important reason to update to the latest version of Apple’s computer operating system: protecting your passwords,” Henry T. Casey reports for Laptop Magazine. “That’s because a Swedish hacker made a device that steals passwords off a Mac just by connecting a cable — unless the latest update is installed.”
“Swedish hacker Ulf Frisk demonstrated his trick in a blog post yesterday (Dec. 15). By simply connecting a device running his PCILeech software to a MacBook Air’s Thunderbolt port, then forcing a reboot, you can gain the system’s password in less than 30 seconds,” Casey writes. “With that password comes access to FileVault, the encryption software that protects the hard drive, so you’re essentially handing over even a well-protected Mac.”
Casey writes, “Frisk says Apple’s latest patches, released Wednesday (Dec. 14) will secure your Mac from this attack.”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take:
This error happens every 30 seconds, and it is worldwide:
com.apple.Safari.SafeBrowsing.Service quit unexpectedly.
Pretty much makes the mac unusable. Fix quick or Die Apple!!!!
That would be a huge problem if people used Safari…
Although it sounds like it is related to the use of Safari, that isn’t so. I have rebooted and NOT used Safari, and it still pops up. There don’t seem to be answers anywhere for this.
I am using macOS Sierra Version 10.12.2 Beta [16C63a)
Reset Safari.
It is Safari, not IE. There is no ‘reset’
Actually in most versions of Safari the option to “Reset Safari” is in the Safari menu at the top of the screen. Apple recently renamed the menu item to “Clear History” and removed the ability to specify what to reset/clear. You could clear cookies, history, etc. but also preview images, location info, website icons, passwords, autofill info, etc.
You’ll have to search how to reset it now. I don’t know all all of the steps.
From a quick search for the old method:
Safari is HOT GARBAGE.
use a real browser..
seriously, Safari is the new IE.
dude, and your best reco?
Chrome. Even Firefox is better than Safari.
Chrome as a “secure” browser option? Ahh, that’s the same company that was once caught dragging for & capturing wifi passwords from they’re mapping cars. There’s a couple of other curious things they’ve been known to do. I guess I’m paranoid.
*their mapping cars.
not Chrome.
Go Firefox (Gecko rendering) or Opera (WebKit).
With Firefox, memory usage is actually very good. You may want/need to deploy a few plugins and tweak some settings for max performance. But if you know how to do that, nothing else is as versatile and personalized.
Opera uses the Chrome rendering engine. It’s as fast as Chrome, though a bit power hungry, like Chrome.
All the others are essentially just styling differences on WebKit. The minor differences in out-of-the-box speed are largely irrelevant, expecially if you employ performance enhancements like a wired ethernet, an enhanced firewall, or an adblocker that eliminates the most aggregious affronts to human intelligence.
Special mention needs to be given to iCab, which allows PowerPC Mac users the ability to have a modern browser.
Yeah, this has been happening to me ever since I updated to 10.12.2. Sometimes when nothing but the Finder is running, supposedly. Of course, the stability and utility of the Finder is another can of worms….
Replying to myself, as this error has not re-occurred now for over 36 hours. Don’t know where it came from, don’t know where it went.
We are Windows now. What ever happened to “Macs are safe from attack.” I’ll answer that question: Tim Cook is what happened. While he was focused on phones and watches, the once great computer company became an ordinary company – just like the hated MSoft. Now we are the same.
A big LOL. Yes, needing a custom piece of hardware and physical access to the computer is no different than windows long history of being the easiest, next to Android, system to compromise the world has ever seen.
Unless you are using FileVaunt and Password protecting your Firmware you mac is only as safe as you are..
leave it on a desk, and I could walk up boot to single user or efi and steal all your data, without knowing your password..
Plus install whatever the hell back doors I want..
macs are only as secure as the person using them.
Yeah, and while your booting it, I could take Lucille and smash your head in…LOL
No, stupid fake ‘Jay Morrison’ anonymous coward whoever you really are. File Vault is from the STEVE JOBS days and has had this particular vulnerability from before he ascended. Did I point out that you’re stupid?
Propaganda these days is prolific. It is also the most nonsensical it has ever been. A litmus test a day for stupid. That’s what we’ve got going on.
Legitimate criticism of Tim Cook, I think we can handle. As CEO, he’s certainly done a great job ignoring the Mac and macOS. But at least security vulnerabilities, such as this one, get patched eventually. Slowly…
Unlock using Apple Watch is super fast and smooth now. Nice update.
From the December 15 post by Ulf Frisk, who figured out how to exploit this vulnerability…
http://blog.frizk.net/2016/12/filevault-password-retrieval.html
…This isn’t a casual exploit unless you have the $300 DMA attack hardware pictured below. IOW: Granny or your obnoxious brother aren’t going to hack into your Mac. But the cops, NSA and professional crooks certainly could.
Another NSA back door discovered. How many are still unknown?