A security vulnerability in Apple’s new “High Sierra” operating system (OS) which could be exploited to leak your passwords was disclosed this week by a former US National Security Agency (NSA) hacker, mere hours before the software update was released to the public.
Advertisement
The new OS is also understood to come with key updates to Safari that includes differential privacy technology that gathers information on user habits that will help the tech giant identify problematic websites.
The new update introduces Mac with an advanced file storage system called APFS, short for Apple File System. This is a replacement for Apple’s older HFS file system, which has been around for years and was developed back when all computers hard hard drives.
It’s the second zero-day that Wardle found for the operating system this month – the first shows how the new software’s secure kernel extension loading feature is vulnerable to bypass. He told Forbes that the unsigned apps on macOS High Sierra can access the information from Keychain and even show the plaintext usernames and passwords without the need of user’s master password. That’s likely to take quite some time to actually complete, so it’s wise to schedule the time for download when you’re going to be in range of a decent connection.
macOS High Sierra also enables High-Efficiency Video Coding (HEVC), which enables users to watch high-quality 4K videos that consume up to 40 percent less storage space compared to the existing H.264 standard.
Here’s how you can download and install macOS High Sierra free of charge.
Valve is optimising its SteamVR platform for macOS and enabling connection of the HTC Vive headset, while Unity and Epic are bringing their VR development tools to macOS.
Graphics performance has always been a weakness for Macs, leading to sharp rebukes from developers such as Oculus, which said that it wouldn’t support Macs with its Rift VR headset until Apple “releases a good computer”.
Siri on the Mac responds with a more natural voice and learns music preferences, creates custom playlists and answers music trivia when using Apple Music. Version 55.0.3 was released ahead of High Sierra, so make sure you have at least that before installing the upgrade. That means apps you rely on to get your job done may not work as you expect-or may not work at all. It’s macOS at its highest level yet.
macOS High Sierra is out, and while it looks pretty similar on the outside, under the hood we get some pretty big changes.
Advertisement
By delivering what amounts to a almost identical operating system, Apple has made few major changes to High Sierra’s consumer-facing side.
