Latest issue 13 Nov 2026

427: Nobody Does it Better

Updates, outages, security and espionage shenanigans

Spy stories, massive outages, security. Apple released a set of security releases. Also, we reminisce on Mac supercomputers.

The best tool for the job wasn’t procured. They were brew installed

Homebrew and NPM makes it easy to pull in packages fast. Most installs happen so fast they aren't reviewed until after they cause a problem.

Workbrew 2.0 shows you everything installed across Homebrew, npm, apps, IDE extensions and more. Find the vulnerable packages, patch them fleet-wide, decide what can and can’t be installed, and roll it out through the MDM you already run.

See it in action | Start free

Nobody Does It Better

The industry news was dominated by events that could have been from a spy movie and then we (well, Microsoft) had massive outages. (Hope it’ll be fixed in time for you to receive this.) Apple released 27.2.1 security patches for nearly all their platforms, as well as Logic Pro 13.0 for Mac.

⚙️ Apple Updates

macOS 27.2.1 Golden Gate (26B131): Security, IPSW, Installer PKG
macOS Tahoe 26.7.3 (25G342): Security
macOS Sequoia 15.8.3 (24H241): Security
iOS and iPadOS: 27.2.1 26.7.3, 18.7.12
visionOS 27.2.1: Security
watchOS 27.2.1: Security, 26.6.2
Logic Pro: Mac 13.0

Aside from the listed issues, on macOS, these also update the cert.pem file to remove the compromised eMudhra certficates.

There’s also a new support article on the illuminated Apple logo on MacBook Pro with PROLED XDR Display.

Apple has just released updates to macOS 27.2.1, 26.7.3 and 15.8.3

Howard Oakley:

Apple has just released security updates to bring macOS Golden Gate to 27.2.1, Tahoe to 26.7.3, and Sequoia to 15.8.3

Apple Closing Community Support Forum

The Apple Support Community will permanently close on November 20, 2026. Starting today, [Nov 11, 2026] the site will no longer accept new posts and is available in a read-only state.

The Apple Support Community has long felt neglected and unmoderated, and not really useful in their current state. Still a sad statement that Apple seemingly cannot be bothered to invest the attention and effort needed to maintain a proper community forum.

Given the state the Apple Support Communities have been in for years, most communities have moved on to other fora, such as the Mac Admins Slack for Apple device management professionals!

🔐 Security and Privacy

Secure Exclaves and Ambient Sensing

Apple Security Research:

We have always believed features like this must be designed from the ground up to protect user security and privacy, and are now taking these protections even further, with a new security architecture in Apple silicon that’s purpose-built for ambient sensing.

The bluetooth trust problem we carry in our ears

Elad Shapira, Jamf Blog:

on Beats Studio Buds, a brief pairing window could appear each time the case was opened before the owner’s previously paired device reconnected. If an attacker won that race once, they could establish a valid bond and reconnect later.

Anatomy of Apple's Personal Knowledge Graph

Dario Pasquini, Michał Bazyli, The Eighth Rank:

Every Mac since macOS 13 ships a pair of daemons whose only purpose in life is to build a graph about who you are, whom you know, how those people are related to you and to each other, how you communicate with them, where you go, what you do and when. In this post, we look into how this system works and give you a tool to peek into your own graph.

Unpatched exploit allows malicious iOS apps to steal data

Malcolm Owen, Apple Insider:

Crypto exchange Binance is warning iPhone users of a security vulnerability in iOS that could allow a malicious app to steal data from other apps on the device.

🔨 Support and Tutorials

Bypass the Ramp, Update Tonight: faster macOS updates with AutoInstallProductKeys

Samuel Keeley:

This key lets you skip the ramp to get updates out faster and make the experience better, because the Mac installs overnight, the way you’d want automatic updates to work in the first place.

When do you need a sync server for Santa?

Éric Falconnier, Zentral:

A sync server does much more than hand out rules.

Dumpster-diving: how the Trash works

Howard Oakley:

What appears to be a single folder, originally on the Desktop and now in the Dock, draws together the contents of several or many directories, some of which behave differently.

I learned just recently that Apple added a trash command line tool in macOS 15, which… well… moves a file or folder to the Trash.

How to Set Up Jamf Network Relay and Jamf Protect

Jon Brown:

The Mac connects through Network Relay, and Security Cloud checks the destination against its Access Policy. Jamf Protect detects the test activity. The configured risk-signaling integration updates the Mac’s risk in Security Cloud, so that same policy denies its next request.

🤖 Scripting and Automation

terraform-provider-axm v1.15.0 - (web)hook, line and sinker

Neil Martin:

it looks like it’s only possible to manage webhooks using the API, with no visibility of them in the UI at all, as far as I can tell.

♻️ Updates and Releases

Upgrade to Fleet 5

Fleet 5 is coming in ~early December~. This guide is published early so you can plan your upgrade.

🎧 Listen

Trust and safety in the age of AI

Mac Admins Podcast:

we are talking to someone who has a few methods on how to tackle these competing priorities – welcome to the pod Catherine Davis

Travel Tales, Starlink Van Life, and First Impressions of Apple’s Foldable Duo

Command Control Power:

Jerry recounts attending Boston’s Head of the Charles, where his freshman daughter coxed a women’s varsity eight and finished despite the boat losing its skeg mid-race.

Osaurus wants your company’s AI to run on the Mac, not in the cloud

Apple @ Work:

Terence Pae, co-founder and CEO of Osaurus, joins the show to talk about running AI locally on the Mac instead of sending everything to the cloud.

🎈 Just For Fun

The Power and Legacy of Virginia Tech’s Mac-Based Supercomputers

Stephen Hackett, 512 Pixels:

The new hardware ~pushed System X~ to 12.25 teraflops. ~The school boasted that~ “the upgraded version was #7 in the 2004 TOP500 list, and cost one-fifth as much as the second least-expensive system in the top 10.”

Interestingly enough, Mac compute clusters may be becoming “a thing” again.

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