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Summer progressing, but the Mac Admin community is still producing a lot of of great things. You can tell, especially in the updates section.
I have take the extra time to post an article on how to inspect packages with the pkgutil command.
Fourth beta for the 26 systems, which also was released as the first public beta this week. The dot-six updates for macOS 15, iOS 18 and siblings went RC, likely release next week. This will very likely be the last update for macOS Ventura 13.
📰 News and Opinion
Apple's Browser Engine Ban Persists, Even Under the DMA
Apple's rules and technical restrictions are blocking other browser vendors from successfully offering their own engines to users in the EU.
2025 MacAdmins Conference Wrap-Up
It has truly been a wonderful week of community, learning, meeting new faces, meeting online faces in person for the first time, and catching up with old friends.
🔐 Security and Privacy
Evolution of macOS Odyssey Stealer: New Techniques & Signed Malware
Last week, security researchers at Moonlock published new findings on the latest version of Atomic Stealer (AMOS), highlighting significant updates — including the addition of a backdoor.
🔨 Support and Tutorials
Explore the Apple School & Business Manager API with My Postman Collection
If you’re working with the Apple School and Business Manager APIs, you know how powerful, but also how complex, they can be to get started with. To make life easier, I’ve put together a public Postman collection that gives you a head start.
Using Containers to Run MSCP
Let’s see how we can build an MSCP container to generate compliance documentation.
How to create a macOS virtual machine with Tart
This post documents how to set up a macOS virtual machine with Tart.
Inspecting Packages
pkgutil lets you examine a pkg file and its contents before the actual installation. It also lets you inspect which packages and files have already been installed on a given system.
Showing the Okta Verify window at login only to users not signed in
I wanted a way to have Okta Verify launch at login but with the window for the app appearing only to users who aren’t signed into Okta Verify.
🤖 Scripting and Automation
Script to Mitigate macOS 13.x Terrapin SSH Vulnerability
If you have some old Mac hardware without a budget for upgrades, which is often the case in educational environments, you may find yourself running older versions of macOS that no longer receive critical security updates from Apple. This situation can leave your systems vulnerable to various threats, including the Terrapin SSH vulnerability, which specifically affects macOS 13.x systems.
Improve your AutoPkg repo-add Commands
The repo-add verb can take a list of repositories, so you only need to call it once.
Using Repo Lasso to Submit Pull Requests in Bulk
the AppPkgCreator processor allowed simplifying those steps into one for many recipes. Not only does this make a large number of AutoPkg recipes much simpler and easier
🎧 Listen
Just Us, now with Selina Ali
We’re at Beta 3 and at least a third of the way through the beta season. How are things going, what have we discovered so far and what are we still looking to find out?
Mac Malware: The Cat & Mouse Game with Patrick Wardle
Arek Dreyer welcomes Patrick Wardle, a leading figure in macOS security.
Proving Chemistry: Sam & Jerry's Tech Talk
Sam and Jerry address listener feedback about their on-air chemistry and dive into a variety of tech discussions.
What Spike’s AI feed gets right about workplace AI
Spike cofounder and CTO Erez Pilosof joins the show to talk about new AI features in the company’s email and team chat app and what the future looks like for collaboration.
webAI puts LLM power in the hands of your IT team
webAI founders David Stout and Tyler Mauer join the show to discuss how webAI aims to put large language model data in the hands of IT teams, Apple Silicon's role in enterprise AI, and much more.
Avoiding 'careering' off the road, with Tony Young
What does it mean to be a Mac Admin in the year of jobs 2025?
What to do first with an inherited Jamf instance
Learn how to tackle inherited Jamf instances with tips about sustainable IT practices that drive sustainability and shape scalability.
🎈Just for Fun
homebysix/GraphMyTunes
GraphMyTunes builds insightful visualizations using the metadata in your iTunes library.
Crystals Wallpaper
Maybe it's all the Final Fantasy XVI I've been playing lately, or perhaps it's just been thinking about what to make for Apple's Liquid Glass UI overhaul, but I've had crystals on the brain, and the result is this tiny wallpaper pack, Crystals.