[155] How To Stop Mac Hacks In Their Tracks

TubbTalk: The Podcast for Managed Service Providers

In this episode, Richard talks to Stuart Ashenbrenner and Wes Hutcherson of Huntress. They share their advice on managing Macs for clients to prevent and manage hacks.

Stuard is a staff macOS researcher, focusing on macOS security and development, with a ton of experience working as a macOS detections engineer and software engineer.

He's spoken at various conferences about macOS security, and he is the coauthor and core developer of the open source macOS incident response tool called Aftermath.

Wes is the director of product marketing for Huntress, where he oversees market intelligence and go-to-marketing strategies. His multifaceted technology and cybersecurity experience spans over a decade.

He’s worked with market leaders such as Bishop Fox, eSentire, Hewlett Packard, and Dell SecureWorks covering managed detection and response, governance, risk and compliance, continuous threat exposure management, offensive security and other topics.

Richard asks them to explain how Huntress help MSPs, how to deploy the tool and their typical partners, before digging in to threats specifically targeting Macs.

Wes explains the Huntress MacOS support and why they decided to put it together. Stuart talks about the most common attack vectors on macOS and security best practice that MSPs should follow.

Wes explains a number of acronyms that MSPs might come across when dealing with Macs and what they mean to users.

Richard, Stuart and Wes look at Mac-specific attacks, third-party breaches and how to protect clients, particularly those who believe that Macs are more secure than PCs.

They explore tools and resources, touch management, staying ahead of the curve and how MSPs can take advantage of the threats to Macs to find a business opportunity.

Mentioned in This Episode

• Open source macOS incident response tool: Aftermath
• Podcast: Interview with Dray Agha
• Malware: Atomic macOS Stealer (AMOS)
• Trojan: Info Stealer
• Shell programme: Bash
• Scripting language: AppleScript
• Knowledge base: MITRE ATT&CK
• macOS threat: Cuckoo
• XM Cyber study into breach and attack simulations
• Slack community: MacAdmins
• Blog series: Ask the Mac Guy: macOS Security Myths
• bunch of resources you can find on our website. It's very easy to find on, under resources
• On-demand webinar: Dealing with Mac threats
• MSP peer group: The Tech Tribe
• Monthly Huntress get-together: Tradecraft Tuesday
• Huntress: Free trial