… and nobody notices. Well, not quite. I did have one client put out because they swap files with someone who uses a Java based file loader. What’s more interesting is how Apple disabled it. Like most of you (OK big assumption) I ignored the fact that Apple has a technology they call Xprotect. This is a mechanism whereby Apple can maintain a ‘safe’ list of apps on your computer, and they can make unilateral changes whenever they like. Which I find to be very scary.
But let’s not be hasty- they did it for a good reason. There is a real, active and unpatched* exploit being used against this software, so it makes sense to disable it. But did Apple do the right thing by not telling anybody? Normally we’d expect a notification, a workaround, a link to an update, but nothing?
You can turn this invasive big brother style manager off, and here’s how to do it-
System Preferences/Security & Privacy/ General/ ‘click to unlock’/ ‘put your password in’/ Advanced/ Automatically update safe downloads list <uncheck
Seriously, try it- that is not easy or intuitive! But should you turn it off? Probably not. As I said before, it fixes a real and present threat.
If you’re affected by this issue, you can re set the version of java allowed by editing the Xprotect file, instructions here. Or a smarter idea is to download a new version of Java that is allowed to run here
*Unpatched for a while after the exploit was discovered, I haven’t been able to find out how long
