[maxglitz]

After an Apple updater alert, I recently updated OSX Security software and restarted. I can only assume that the following window was a result of that, but it was not warned about during the update and makes me feel uncomfortable. I don't know what button to click on with confidence. I left the alert window on the screen for now until I know what to do. It reads as follows:

Confirm Application Change
SyndicationAgent.app has been updated. Do you want to allow the new version to access the same keychain items (such as passwords) as the previous version? This change is permanent and affects all keychain items used by SyndicationAgent.
Buttons: Don't Change / Change All

[Hal Itosis]

Tiger... right?

(i don't see any changes involving SyndicationAgent in recent Leopard updates... newest such item is dated Jun 23, 2008)

[CharlesS]

It has to be Tiger, as I don't think the recent security update was released for Leopard (the changes it brought were rolled into the 10.5.7 update instead). And if it were Leopard, you probably wouldn't see that screen anyway, because of code signing. Since the recent security update for Tiger does update SyndicationAgent, you're probably fine, but if you want to be sure, just check the path of the app. It should be:

/System/Library/PrivateFrameworks/Syndication.framework/Versions/A/Resources/SyndicationAgent.app

If the app is there, then that is an Apple-supplied component which you can trust.

[maxglitz]

Yes, I'm still using Tiger (With Leopard sitting on my desk unopened due to dread-of-upgrade-problems-chicken-heartedness).

Oddly, the window has disappeared from my screen, but should it come up again, which button would have been correct to click on? "Don't Change" or "Change All"

...and CharlesS, you got me with that bomb graphic signature. The fear of that graphic lingers still. Whew!

Back to the subject at hand, although I've been on a Mac since the earliest days in the 80s, I'm fairly savvy, but this sort of thing coming up as a result of a security update had me baffled. I mean it appears to want to effect my PASSWORDS in some way. That's creepy. That's way too Microsoft and unintuitive. I wonder what newer Mac folk would do with this techie insider stuff.

Thanks

[CharlesS]

The reason for that dialog is that in order for applications to be trusted to use the Keychain, it is necessary to make sure they stay authentic. If a virus, for example, were to plant itself inside an application that was trusted to access the Keychain, the virus would then be able to obtain unauthorized access to the Keychain and all your passwords stored therein. Therefore, the OS keeps track of the checksum of each application which is trusted to use the Keychain, and alerts you if the application has changed since the last time you elected to trust it. If this dialog had just come up without your having done anything to cause it, that would be a cause for concern, but since the cause of the change was legitimate (the application was updated by an Apple-supplied security update), it should be safe just to click "Change All" and give it access.

In Leopard, you see this dialog much less often, because of code signing. Each application that Apple ships is signed with Apple's own unique code signature, which can only be attached to an application by someone who possesses Apple's private key, which is presumably locked safely away somewhere in Apple's headquarters. This code signature verifies that the software is genuine and supplied by Apple, and it also guarantees that the application hasn't been modified, since to do so would break the code signature. Therefore, when you update a component like SyndicationAgent, the OS will see that although the application has changed, it's still from Apple and it's still untampered with, so it can still be trusted. As a consequence, in Leopard you will not see that dialog very often, but also it's a much more valid cause for concern if it does come up. In Tiger, however, the warning is a lot less useful and tends to turn up a lot of false positives, which is why the system was changed for Leopard.

[maxglitz]

Thanks. I feel more comfortable now. (But your bomb just got me again... old mental programming)

[CharlesS]

(sorry)

[maxglitz]

AGHHHHHHH!

Oh! Nevermind.

[MidnightMonarch]

Too funny CarlesS!...even fake bombs send a shiver through me....lol.
And I agree maxglitz...I have a new unopened Leopard and too chicken to install...primarily because I do not have a back up drive to copy everything to "just in case"...as it is I am playing Russian Roulette already.

[msuper69]

Originally Posted by MidnightMonarch 

Too funny CarlesS!...even fake bombs send a shiver through me....lol.
And I agree maxglitz...I have a new unopened Leopard and too chicken to install...primarily because I do not have a back up drive to copy everything to "just in case"...as it is I am playing Russian Roulette already.

And you better hope you don't get burned like me. I had neglected to backup an external drive and the hardware failed. Nearly 1TB of files gone.

[steve626]

Originally Posted by maxglitz 

... I wonder what newer Mac folk would do with this techie insider stuff.

Well -- I can tell you what one of the "newer Mac folk" does -- my daughter, 16 years old ... when a security update is performed and something like that comes up, she immediately clicks "yes" in a millisecond because she reasons as follows:

"security update ... so it probably needs to update something security-wise now in the keychain, I'll just click 'ok' ".

[CharlesS]

Which is why you should upgrade to Leopard (unless you need Classic).