Replacement developer certificates Apple issued to fix security issues have caused signed packages created using the older replaced certificates to no longer be verifiable. This results in OS X assuming corruption in these files, and will not process them by default. One unfortunate side-effect of this is that older installers you may have collected for past versions of OS X will likely have been signed using older certificates, and may no longer install. Continue reading
Tag Archives: Certificate
How to certify and encrypt your e-mail in OS X
Even though we have modern messaging technologies like Apple’s Messages that default to encrypted communications, we still primarily use e-mail, even for sensitive business transactions. If you have several partners that you would like to communicate privately with, then while you can resort to an encrypted collaboration platform, you can also do so via classic e-mail, with only a few steps taken for each person. Continue reading
Fix persistent invalid certificate errors in OS X
When connecting to various online services, your Mac will use certificates to validate a connection. If a certificate being used for a connection is expired or invalid, then OS X will notify you of this when attempting to use it, and offer you the choice of continuing with the connection, inspecting the certificate, or canceling the connection. Such warnings are convenient for detecting an invalid connection, such as one that might be malicious, so if they happen then consider looking into them; however, there may be times when practically every connection you attempt gives you a certificate warning. Continue reading
How to stay safe using iCloud and other online services
Following the recent hack attempts against its iCloud service in China, Apple has published a reminder page to inform you of how to detect fraudulent sites that are pretending to be legitimate ones, by determining if the remote server is using valid certificates and proper encryption.
While Apple’s servers were not compromised and iCloud data and passwords were not revealed in the recent attacks, this event serves as a good reminder to check for the validity of any Web site you are connecting to, especially if it contains private or sensitive information. Continue reading