First, the bad news. Once again, due to a flaw in Java, similar to the one that enabled the. Even worse, there isn’t (yet) a patch to fix that vulnerability. But don’t worry: This time around, there’s good news for Mac users: Thanks to changes Apple has made, most of us are likely to be safe from this threat.
How to disable Java on your Mac By Rich Mogull. When enabled in your browser, they run such programs without asking your permission to do so. Only the sandbox stands between you. In the Java Control Panel, click the Security tab. At the top of the Security tab, check the Enable Java content in the browser box to enable Java. Uncheck to disable. Click the Apple icon in the top left of the screen. Select System Preferences. Click the Java icon to open the Java Control Panel. Then, click the Security tab.
That said, although you likely aren’t at risk today, it is clear that Java still represents one of the biggest, most persistent security problems facing users of all operating systems. So I recommend you consider implementing the precautions suggested below.
What happened On Sunday, August 26, security vendor FireEye that used a previously unknown Java vulnerability. The attack, which originated from China, affected the latest version of the Java Runtime Environment (Java 7, version 1.7). The attack comes through your Web browser when you browse to a malicious site and allows an attacker to silently take complete control over your computer. After FireEye’s initial post, details about the vulnerability quickly became public and exploits taking advantage of it appeared in multiple attack tools. Further research by security vendor indicated that the active exploit actually took advantage of (what we, in the industry, call zero-days). The exploit for the first vulnerability was —one of the most widely used malicious hacking tools. The exploit is also now available as an attack in, which is freely available and favored by script kiddies and security professionals (myself included) throughout the world.
At this time, Oracle—which inherited Java when it acquired Sun Microsystems—has not commented on the exploits, although we now know that the company and was planning to release a patch in its October update. Only time will tell if the company will break its quarterly patch cycle and release an emergency update sooner. (My money is on early release.) In summary, we have at least two exploitable vulnerabilities affecting anything running the latest version of Java, both are being used in active attacks, and one is bundled with one of the most popular bad-guy toolkits on the market (BlackHole) and a very popular (and free) security testing tool.
You can’t patch either one. It’s the very definition of “bad”. Why most Mac users aren’t at risk All that said, there are two reasons why Macs are less at-risk than people on other platforms, despite being.
In Mac OS X 10.4 and 10.3, at the bottom of the left panel, click Login Options, and in the right panel, uncheck Automatically log in as. In the right panel next to 'Automatic login:', select Off or Disabled from the pull-down menu. If Login Options is grayed out, click the padlock icon in the bottom of the preference window, and then authenticate to log into your account. • In Mac OS X 10.5 and later, at the bottom of the left panel, click Login Options. Mac mail doesn't have a place to put password for google acct online.
The first, and most important, reason is that relatively few Macs are running the vulnerable version of Java. Any operating system running JRE 1.7 is affected, but the attack doesn’t work against JRE 1.6. That last one is the version that Mac users have installed (assuming they use Java at all). The only way to update from Java 6 (1.6)—the last version supported by Apple—to Java 7 is by manually downloading and installing it from Oracle. And apparently few Mac users have done so: For example, the online backup service that uses Java for its client app, none of that company’s users (who must have Java installed) are using the vulnerable version. The second reason you don’t have to worry, even if you do have Java 7 installed, is that Apple by default disabled Java applet support in Web browsers in its most recent Java security update.
Starting with OS X 10.7 Lion, Java isn’t installed by default anyway. And even if you do turn on Java, OS X will turn it off again if you don’t use it for a while. Many users do install Java for websites or applications (like Crashplan) that require it. But, again, even if you did install Java, the odds are very, very good that you aren’t running a vulnerable version.
What you should do There are two simple ways to check to see if you’re vulnerable to this latest threat. The first option is to run the Java Preferences app (/Applications/Utilities/). On the General tab it shows the version of Java you have installed.
If it says you’re running Java SE 7, and if the Enable Applet Plug-in and Web Start Applications option is checked, you are exposed. If it says Java SE 6, or if that applet option isn’t checked, you’re safe. You can also check your version by opening Terminal and typing java -version. This time you want to make sure the response isn't 1.7. If it is, don’t be too alarmed; you can’t be exploited if you don’t also have that browser support turned on in the Java Preferences app.
If you are vulnerable, immediately uncheck that Enable Applet Plug-in and Web Start Applications option in the Java Preferences app. Doing so isn’t a perfect defense, but it does prevent malicious websites from exploiting you. ( You could still be tricked into downloading an exploit that you would run manually.) Using the Java Preferences application is more reliable than disabling Java in your browser since it blocks it from all browsers at once. This allows you to still use Java on your Mac, but without the risk of being infected through your web browser. The safest way to keep using Java If, like me, you still need to use Java in your web browser, I recommend the following steps.
They will reduce your risk, and I recommend them as an ongoing security practice even if you aren’t on the vulnerable version of Java. Because, to be honest, these Java attacks aren’t about to slow down anytime soon. First, manually disable Java in your Web browsers. Even if you turned it off in Java Preferences, this will keep it from running if you ever change that setting (which we are about to do).
How to create bootable usb for osx laptop. How to make a Mac OS X bootable USB installation media Before you can use TransMac, you may first need to partition your USB flash drive with a GPT partition, as a normal MBR partition may not work. To do this, you’ll need to use the Diskpart command-line utility on Windows. Jesus Vigo goes over the steps to create a bootable USB to install OS X 10.7-10.8 and OS X 10.5-10.6, as well as how to put multiple versions on the same USB. After creating the bootable installer, follow these steps to use it. Connect the bootable installer to a compatible Mac. Use Startup Manager or Startup Disk preferences to select the bootable installer as the startup disk, then start up from it. Your Mac will start up to macOS Recovery. How to Create Mac OS X Bootable USB Pen Drive with Windows 10 / 7. This tutorial is for Mac OS X El Capitan, yosemite, etc. That is based on Mac OS X versions and successfully working on Windows 7 / 8.1 / 10.
In Google Chrome type chrome://plugins in the address bar and click the link to disable Java. In Safari, go to Safari Preferences and uncheck Enable Java on the Security pane.
In Firefox go to Tools Add Ons Plugins and uncheck Java Plug-In. Next, re-enable Java applet support in the Java Preferences application (or wait for your Mac to automatically prompt you the next time you need it). Third, pick a secondary browser that you never normally use and re-enable Java in it. For example, I use Chrome as my primary browser, and I disabled Java in it. I almost never use Firefox, but I still have it installed and Java is enabled in it. This protects me as I browse around the Web. (I also use Safari for development testing, so I keep it disabled on that).
Whichever browser you choose as your secondary one, you should use it only when you know you need to use Java and you are going to a website you know. For me, I mostly need Java for presenting webcasts, so when I hit a site I must use that requires Java, I use my backup browser. Disabling Java in your day-to-day browser and having a second browser for Java needs isn’t perfect, but it does offer a lot of protection. It’s easier to remember than installing a tool like which blocks Java on individual pages, but which many non-techie users find cumbersome.
(I actually run it in Firefox, as another layer of protection, but I’m a raging security geek). Another option is to access Java sites only from inside a virtual machine. I run ( ) (and sometimes ) and frequently use Windows virtual machines for visiting those non-Mac-compatible websites I sometimes need for work (again, usually old webcast systems). I keep a baseline snapshot of my virtual machines, and revert to those after any risky activity. We dodged a bullet For once, being a software version behind worked to the advantage of Mac users, and nearly no Mac users are really at risk from the latest Java exploits. But, as we’ve seen with Flashback and this recent attack, Java remains a prime target.
Thus I’d recommend that all users protect themselves, even if you aren’t currently at risk. Disable Java if you don’t need it, turn it off in your browsers if you don’t need it there, or only use it under controlled circumstances if you don’t have a choice. Rich Mogull has worked in the security world for 17 years.
He writes for and works as a security analyst through.