What became a major threat to the security of a user’s data was quickly identified and a bug fix was released by Apple. The “Gotofail” errant code was said to have cropped up when there was an error reported in the Apple’s code that exposed the users to hackers’ malignant ways. The hacker, if he is in a fortunate networking position, will be able to intercept the data protected by SSL/TSL.
In a layman’s terms, the system will validate security certificates even for those websites that are harmful. While it will prove that the certificate is cryptographically error free, it will not be able to authenticate the signor of the certificate. This makes the user open to being infected with a virus and leaves them prone to having their personal data stolen from the Apple device.
Apple announced the release of OS 10.9.2 a few days ago, with quite a few new additions to their existing software. The update will not only fix the SSL Security bug, but it also has Facetime for video calling. The update is currently available for any Mac users on the OS App store.
Although the release does not officially claim to have removed the bug, the tests conducted on the software prove that the vulnerability does not exists anymore after the update occur. Until your device is updated with the latest version however, the harmful website will appear as trusted, and will be able to successfully intercept the coded data even on a protected connection. Although there are workarounds to this, such as antivirus software that can help in the detection of a malicious site, the new update has increased performance and efficiency by adding another security barrier.
The issue of SSL vulnerability was detected in 2012 in iOS and only affected the Macs that ran on OS X 10.9. Other versions of Mac were not reported to have issues with this bug. Bitdefender Antivirus for Mac did manage to keep the errant code at bay, but with the provision of a fix, the Mac users have become all the more secure.
Another addition to the update includes FaceTime calling support, as well as the call waiting feature on FaceTime. Users can also block individuals on iMessage with the help of latest update in their OS X 10.9.2. All the users who are on OS X Mavericks 10.9 should update to the latest version as soon as possible because of the added security offered for web browsing.
But there’s even more: The latest update does not only offer to patch the SSL Security vulnerability, but it also fixes many other minor bugs, like the audio distortion on Mac, App store providing updates for already updated apps, VPN errors, etc. Many users are arguing that the bug fix that came so late could have happened way earlier. However, it has been observed that the SSL security was not an issue with earlier versions of the OS.
This update is available to all the Mac users running OS X, and can be downloaded for free from the Mac App store.
Overall, the new version of the OS X is definitely better and offers far greater security to Mac users. The other freebees coming along with the latest update are just the icing on the cake.
