Apple has released an update to XProtect Remediator, macOS’s built-in software that protects it against viruses and malware. The update is version 147 for macOS Catalina and later and became available on October 16. It installs automatically, which is the usual method for XProtect Remediator.
Howard Oakley first reported the update on his blog. Apple does not publish security notes on XProtect updates and Oakley stresses that the nature of the changes is not obvious.
To see if the update has been installed on your Mac, you can use the System Information app on your Mac which is located in the Utilities folder in Applications. Once you launch the app, search for the Software section in the left column, then click Facilities. In the main section of the window, a list will appear, and if sorted by Software nameyou can click the header to reverse the list (or scroll down) to see the “XProtectPayloads” entry. The update is version 147. (This listing is historical and will show previous versions if you are interested.)
The update should install automatically, but you can force the installation using one of the utilities created by Oakley: SilentKnight, which checks if macOS security has been updated, or LockRattler, which checks if the Basic security features of macOS work. These free utilities can be downloaded from the Oakley website.
Don’t forget to check out Oakley’s blog, which is a great mix of Mac tech articles and painting articles. Oakley is a longtime Mac developer who has written several excellent Mac utilities.
igamesnews has several guides to help you, including a guide on whether or not you need antivirus software, a list of Mac viruses, malware, and Trojans, and a comparison of Mac security software.
