Apple has released the new M1 Chip (ARM) equipped computers, which bring significant architecture changes (known as Apple Silicon). Among them, these devices will run (at minimum) macOS11 Big Sur, and handle tasks differently than previous Apple systems. We just got an email from Sophos stating that their anti-virus flat out won't work with Big Sur. It's not surprising since the same thing happened with Catalina. Just wanted to let everyone know.
Version 10.0.1
Important
You must review the information in knowledge base article KB-000039014 as it contains important information about this release.
Notes
The notification 'Full disk access required' that asks the user to grant Sophos processes full disk access may be re-triggered.
The threat detection engine version is 3.79.0.
Sophos Home And Macos 11
Resolved issues
| Issue ID | Description |
|---|---|
| MACEP-5389 | Resolved an issue with tabs opening slowly in Google Chrome. |
Version 10.0.0
Sophos Big Sur Support
New Features
This release supports the EDR 3 capabilities in Sophos Central (to be rolled out for Macs by September). Live Discover allows admins to use osquery to search the device data across their estate to answer almost any question they can think of. Live Response allows admins to start an interactive session to a remote device.
This version supports macOS 10.13 and later.
Updated Components
The threat detection engine version is 3.79.0.
Resolved issues
| Issue ID | Description |
|---|---|
| MACEP-4232 | Improved battery life when performing on-demand scans. |
| MACEP-5178 | Resolved an issue when connecting devices lacking vendor, product or serial information. |
Version 9.9.8
Resolved issues
| Issue ID | Description |
|---|---|
| MACEP-4973 | Resolved blank captive portal. |
Version 9.9.6
This release contains performance improvements.
Resolved issues
| Issue ID | Description |
|---|---|
| MACEP-4600 | Improved memory usage when Threat Case creation is enabled. |
| MACEP-4602 | Resolved an issue with modified permissions on the man8 directory when using disk encryption. |
| MACEP-4493 | Resolved an intermittent failure where web pages may fail to load. |
| MACEP-4606 | Improved support for macOS 10.15 Catalina when using MDM profiles. |
Version 9.9.5
New features
- This release contains improved support for macOS 10.15 Catalina.
- This release contains stability improvements.
Resolved issues
| Issue ID | Description |
|---|---|
| MACEP-4456 | Users can now copy paths from the Events panel. |
Version 9.9.4
New features
- This release contains support for macOS 10.15 Catalina.
- This release contains security and performance improvements.
Updated components
The threat detection engine version is 3.77.1.
Resolved issues
| Issue ID | Description |
|---|---|
| MACEP-4414 | Resolved an intermittent issue on macOS 10.14 Mojave where the Captive Network Assistant page could fail to load. |
| MACEP-4410 | Addressed CVE-2020-10947. |
macOS 11 Big Sur is now compatible with UCL's Remote Access VPN service. For more details see UCL Remote Access VPN client upgraded (now also compatible with macOS 11/Big Sur).
23 November 2020
macOS 11 Big Sur has now moved into full release. ISD are working to prepare the Remote Access VPN service for compatibility with macOS 11 Big Sur.
However, there are two compatibility issues with the Remote Access VPN service for this new operating system:
- The current version of the AnyConnect client (4.8.01090) is not supported on macOS 11 Big Sur. We are working on testing the new AnyConnect client at the moment before deployment.
- Sophos have released a supported version of its anti-virus edition for Home users. This can however only be used on personal devices and MUST NOT be used on UCL-owned devices.
- Sophos do not yet have an available anti-virus edition of their Sophos Endpoint Protection which is the version that can be used on UCL-owned devices.
Therefore, based on the above reasons, it is highly recommend that you do not upgrade to MaOS 11 Big Sur in order to be able to continue successfully using the Remote Access VPN service. Further updates will be communicated here when they become available.
29 October 2020
It has been brought to our attention that Sophos Endpoint protection is not compatible with the beta/preview release of macOS 11 Big Sur.
If you choose to upgrade to macOS 11 Big Sur while it is in beta/preview, and use Sophos as your anti-virus client, you will not be able to connect to the UCL VPN service.
Sophos And Big Sur
When macOS 11 Big Sur moves into general release, Sophos will release a supported anti-virus product.
For further information, please see Sophos's knowledge base article.