OS X

Nearly two months after the initial release of Mavericks, Apple has issued the first major update for the operating system. OS X 10.9.1 can be downloaded automatically through the Mac App Store's Updates tab, but if you'd like to install it manually the package is also up on Apple's support site. The package for the 13-inch and 15-inch Retina MacBook Pros is here, while the update package for all other supported Macs is here.

Mac security firm Intego has turned up a new version of the Remote Control System (RCS) Da Vinci rootkit, a pricey piece of dodgy spyware lawful intercept software sold to governments across the world by Italian security coders Hacking Team. 

If Hacking Team’s handiwork sounds benign, Intego has given it the new and rather alarming-sounding name, ‘OSX/Crisis.B. The backdoor was first detected as ‘Crisis’ (officially called ‘Da Vinci’ by its makers) in the summer of 2012 when it was spotted targeting Moroccan journalists sympathetic to the Arab Spring.

After a dozen years and nine major releases, OS X has had a full life: the exuberance of youth, gradually maturing into adulthood, and now, perhaps, entering its dotage. When I am an old operating system I shall wear… leather?

The 2011 release of OS X 10.7 Lion seemed to mark the natural endpoint of the "big cat" naming scheme. But Apple couldn't resist the lure of the "cat, modifier cat" naming pattern, releasing OS X 10.8 Mountain Lion a year later. Perhaps it just wanted to give its cat nine lives.