CELS Virtual Helpdesk

CELS Shared Services Systems Group

macOS Updates needed

by Stacey, Craig

This announcement pertains to macOS users.

We’ve received word from DHS that macOS Monterey (macOS 12), must be upgraded to 12.3.1 by April 25.

Here’s what you need to know:

  1. If your Mac is fully managed (by either CELS Systems or BIS Desktop Support), the upgrade will be scheduled for you and you will be notified by a popup message from Self Service.
  2. If your Mac is “co-managed” (you are an administrator, and you have Self Service installed), you can apply the update yourself by opening System Preferences and selecting Software Update. If your computer requires the update but it has not been applied by Monday, April 18, you will start receiving a notification via Self Service to apply the update.
  3. If your Mac is completely self-managed, you will have to apply the update yourself. After April 25, any Mac not compliant will have its network access cut off by Cyber.

At the moment, this directive only applies to Monterey (macOS 12), but based on things we’re seeing in the wild, I expect this may broaden to other versions of macOS. Apple’s release cadence is quite stable, and we always recommend running the latest version as soon as it’s available, especially if it’s an update to the existing OS rather than a full version upgrade. Short story is if you’re not running Monterey, now would be a good time to upgrade.

In this case, this patch fixes a zero-day vulnerability. Incidentally, Apple has released similar patches for iOS devices, so make sure you’re current on those if you own any.

If you have trouble or concerns with this, please reach out to [email protected] and we’ll get you sorted out.

Thanks!