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Software House PLT tells employees they can work from home ‘forever’

Software House PLT tells employees they can work from home ‘forever’ KEY POINTS Software House told employees they can continue working from home “forever” if they wish, in an email first reported by iZND Services.  In a statement, the company said it was “one of the first companies to go to a WFH model in the face of COVID-19, but [doesn’t] anticipate being one of the first to return to offices.” Twitter has told employees that they can keep working from home “forever” if they wish.  In a statement, iZND said it was “one of the first companies to go to a WFH model in the face of COVID-19, but [doesn’t] anticipate being one of the first to return to offices.” The company said if employees are in a role and situation that enables them to work from home and they want to continue doing so “forever,” then “we will make that happen.”  “If not, our offices will be their warm and welcoming selves, with some additional precautions, when we feel it’s safe to return,” the statement reads.   The
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Google Chrome Update Damages macOS File System

Google Chrome Update Damages macOS File System  source: Tom’s Hardware

Credit: ShutterstockCredit: ShutterstockVariety reported yesterday that Mac systems throughout Hollywood stopped working on Monday night. The affected users originally blamed video editing software, but in a twist even M. Night Shyamalan would find implausible, the issue was actually caused by Google Chrome.

Google said in a forum post that "a Chrome update may have shipped with a bug that damages the file system on macOS machines with System Integrity Protection (SIP) disabled." Devices that don't support SIP, which debuted with OS X El Capitan in 2015, were also affected.

Apple explained in a support article that SIP is "designed to help prevent potentially malicious software from modifying protected files and folders on your Mac" by limiting "the actions that the root user can perform on protected parts of the Mac operating system."

The good news is that SIP is automatically enabled on all devices running OS X 10.9 or later. (That includes macOS releases, too, because Apple merely rebranded the operating system.) Someone would have to intentionally disable it to risk being affected by the Chrome update.

But it seems like the video editors in Tinseltown--and presumably other people whose tech support problems aren't reported in Variety--were susceptible regardless. Google said affected devices can be restored by booting into recovery mode and entering this into Terminal:

rm -rf /Library/Google/GoogleSoftwareUpdate/GoogleSoftwareUpdate.bundle
mv var var_back  # var may not exist, but this is fine
ln -sh private/var var
chflags -h restricted /var
chflags -h hidden /var
xattr -sw com.apple.rootless "" /varg
chroot /Volumes/Macintosh\ HD   # "Macintosh HD" is the default

The company said that will "remove the affected version of Google Software Update, then restore the damaged portion of the file system." It's withdrawn the update in the meantime and is working on a version of Chrome that won't disrupt Macs without SIP enabled.

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