I overlaid two contiguous files and two reserved storage ranges onto up to five GPT partitions, to allow a non-partition-supporting operating system to coexist with EFI and its required GPT partitioning, and with the two files placed atop the boot and maintenance partitions.
#UglyHack #openvms https://infosec.exchange/@postmodern/114679619465262045
This removed the last chance for Apple engineers to have meaningful, unscripted, unmonitored contact with actual customers, and the fact this has been the norm for the last five years shows in how steadily out of touch your products have become.
Suck it up and actually talk to people. Do a real conference and touch grass, as it were.
With macOS and app sandboxing, and (a lack of) full disk access for Terminal app (and the defaults command), and Hilarity Ensues…
…or…
How the security-related pieces of macOS can sometimes fit together in unexpected and unhelpful ways:
https://lapcatsoftware.com/articles/containers.html
This particular case for Safari browser, but most any sandboxed app will follow this pattern.
The advent of Apple Intelligence has greatly improved the creative-corruption capabilities of “predictive” text.
I’m having to watch for wholesale changes in what was typed.
While auto-corrupt and predictive text usually works and usually fixes typos, sometimes the text (due to LLM hallucinations?) can be entirely unexpected.
Vestas Wind. The navigator calculated the fastest course was straight across a reef over thirty miles wide and appearing on every chart since the 17th century.
The reef begged to differ.
Probably time for some sites to add firewall rules that trigger a log or an alert for any attempts to access the Java and Oracle domains.
These rules to detect and report any rogue installs.
What sorts of rogue installs can exist?
One of the local Java dependencies had been the (now long replaced) Zyxel firewall.
The firewall web UI used Java to generate a display of the port status. (AKA: hunting flies with anvils.)
https://cyberplace.social/@WiteWulf/114675966630825304
We (university IT Services) sent out an all staff and student email telling everyone to uninstall any Oracle Java products from their machines. Apparently the licensing terms were such that if Oracle came on-site and performed an audit, one single installation of a Java product (even just a JRE) would result in us having to buy a site-license (for approximately 25k users). There is no option for per install licensing 🤨 https://www.theregister.com/2025/06/13/jisc_java_oracle/
Ken Shirriff
TayFoNay🍿
McNadoMD
Bynkii
Stellar 🇫🇷 
Dreadnought Holiday