Mac Security Alert
Square Circle Consulting
Many Macs are vulnerable due to publicized but unpatched security issues with Safari. Square Circle Consulting, LLC recommends the following for users running versions of OS X prior to Lion:
- Switch to a browser that’s being kept up-to-date, such as Firefox, and stop using Safari.
- Select Apple menu->Software Update… and install all security-related updates such as Security Update 2012-004 and Java for Mac OS X 10.6 Update 10.
- Run up-to-date commercial anti-virus software.
- Prepare to upgrade to OS X 10.7 Lion or 10.8 Mountain Lion.
Background
Historically, Apple has only released comprehensive security updates for the current and previous versions of Mac OS X. The day after the release of OS X 10.8 Mountain Lion, a Safari update was released which patched a wide variety of security issues in OS X 10.7 Lion, but not in Mac OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard or earlier versions of OS X.
This seemed to follow the typical pattern of things, but 10.7 had only been out for a year, so we hoped that Apple would extend support for 10.6, given that half of all Macs run 10.6 or older. In September, Apple released a Java update for 10.6 and comprehensive security updates for 10.6, 10.7 and 10.8. Another Safari update was also released, but only for 10.7 and 10.8.
Square Circle Consulting can help
Square Circle Consulting can help Mac users maintain their systems, and prepare to upgrade by reviewing existing hardware and software for compatibility, running full backups prior to upgrading, installing upgrades and related updates and supporting users throughout the upgrade process.
Guest Blog Provided by David Hanke of Square Circle Consulting
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