We’ve added functionality to our Signing Service via Gate and Token Manager! These apps can now issue certificates on their own.
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News
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Install Windows 11 Without TPM 2 on Boot Camp
One of the really interesting features of Winclone 10 is the ability to install Windows 11 onto a Boot Camp partition. I’ve received questions about how this is possible: after all, most Macs do not have a Trusted Platform Module (TPM), and those with a TPM do not expose it to the hardware. Modern Macs…
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Automating Mac Automated Device Enrollment Status
Shops that refurbish Macs have a problem: when a Mac already used by an organization is sold to a shop (with the shop later wanting to refurbish and resell the Mac), the shop asks that the device be removed from Apple Business Manager or Apple School Manager. In this situation, the device is typically released…
Press Release
Twocanoes Software Releases Innovative Smart Card Solution for iPhone/iPad
First ever smart card solution for iPhone and iPad enables use with Safari, VPN, Wireless “We are excited to bring this unique and powerful solution to smart card users and organizations who love the iPhone and iPad as much as we do.” — Timothy Perfitt NAPERVILLE, ILLINOIS, UNITED STATES, September 15, 2021 /EINPresswire.com/ — Twocanoes…
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EAP-TLS on macOS 11
Overview In enterprise environments, access to a wireless (or wired) network can be secured using 802.1X and X.509 certificates. The process that provides access on macOS, eapolclient, can be configured either via an MDM configuration profile or directly on the macOS client. The MDM configuration profile allows for three different ways to provide the X.509…
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Trusting Certificates in System Keychain without Prompting
A common activity when deploying Macs in Enterprise and Education environments is trusted a certificate in the System keychain. Before macOS 11 Big Sur, this was done using the security command. However, macOS 11 Big Sur changed this: macOS Big Sur 11 beta improves system security by requiring an administrator password when a certificate trust…
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A Comprehensive Definition of macOS Security Terms
APFS (Apple File System): A filesystem developed by Apple that uses “Containers” and “Volumes” and “Groups”, though no one knows the difference between them. The core features of APFS are the fact that it wasn’t created by a murderer and allows Macs to mount a huge number of “Volumes” for no specific reason. Secure Token:…
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Empty Loops in Bash
One of the very common things I do in bash/sh is look over item in a folder. However, bash and sh behavior when the directory is empty can be unexpected. For example, let’s say I want to loop over all the items in my web folder: When you run it, does exactly what you think:…
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M1 Recovery Requires Mouse or Trackpad
When testing with the M1 Mac mini, I booted into M1 recovery by holding down the power button (Apple refers to this as 1TR, or one true recovery). I was then presented with the flashing mouse/trackpad, which was not unexpected. What was unexpected is that it cannot be dismissed with a simple space press. This…
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MDS 4 Preview: Auto Advance in Big Sur
Auto Advance in Big Sur brings functionality to Deployment Enrollment and MDM that has been missing: Zero-touch setup. Prior to Auto Advance, a Mac that was enrolled in MDM and Deployment Enrollment had to click through the first few panes of the setup assistant before Remote Management took over. While this was fine for Macs…
Blog
Using Signing Manager with Macs on AWS EC2
Signing Manager for macOS provides an ideal system for securing the code and package signing identities. Implement secure access to the identities with API keys, access controls, and auditing. Gain full control over iOS, macOS, watchOS, and iPadOS signing operations without disrupting the current workflow. Signing manager works great for developers, CI/CD servers, or for…
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MDS, Big Sur, and Apple Silicon Challenges
Apple simultaneously released new Mac hardware, a new OS (Big Sur), and transitioned to a new processor (Apple Silicon) on a single day. We have been tracking the changes with Big Sur builds and the Developer Transition Kit (DTK), but with the release of Big Sur and the new Macs, we are able to test…
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Curtain Mode
I had feature request for our Secure Remote Access solution to lock a Mac locally while doing a screen sharing session to it. Apple Remote Desktop has had this feature for a while, but only worked if you were running an Apple Remote Desktop when connecting to a remote Mac. I wanted a way to…
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Booting to macOS Recovery and Diagnostics Mode
All Macs now come with a Recovery partition to reinstall macOS and do some common maintenance. In order to restart into recovery, there are a number of keyboard combinations that must be held when the Mac is first started up. There are times when it is useful to select the mode ahead of time; also,…
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Mac Pro 2019
We got a Mac Pro (2019) for testing software compatibility with Winclone and MDS. Both softwares depend on Mac hardware, so validating those apps on any significant hardware changes is important. It is one of the reasons why we charge for software updates. My focus was booting Windows and migrating Windows 10 with Winclone, and…
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Identity Manager
Code Signing with Apple Tools Outside The Keychain We have been working on a project that solves the problem of code signing with Apple tools with a private key that is not located in the keychain of the Mac that is doing the signing. The private key can be kept on a centralized server accessible…
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Why We Charge for Upgrades
Twocanoes Software is a small software company that focuses on macOS software. We make software that does things that some people may not need but others need very much. We started selling software in 2012 and the landscape has changed pretty dramatically in the past 7 years. App Stores are now very common as well…
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Apple Ramps Up Fight against Malware with Notarization, Stapling, and Hardening
Apple recently announced that new Mac developer accounts (and eventually all mac developers) who distribute Mac apps outside the App Store will be required to submit apps for notarization. The notarization was announced at WWDC 2018 and was optional, but Apple was clear that it was going to be required in a future version of…
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Adding Notarization to Xcode Builds
macOS 10.14.5 will require notarization for macOS apps to run on a Mac. I had to modify our build scripts in Xcode to add in notarization. The hard part was that the notarization had to happen in the middle of the build process. Our prior process did this: Archive Build->Package->Add to DMG We use Packages…
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