There's a new XProtect security update–here's how to make sure your Mac has it

Apple has released an update to XProtect Remediator, macOS’s built-in software that protects it from viruses and malware. The update is version 147 is for macOS Catalina and later and became available on October 16. It installs automatically, which is the usual method for XProtect Remediator. 

Howard Oakley on his blog first reported the update. Apple doesn’t issue security notes about XProtect updates and Oakley points out that it’s not obvious what the changes are.

To see if the update was installed on your Mac, you can use the System Information app on your Mac which can be found in the Utilities folder inside Applications. Once you launch the app, look for the Software section in the left column, and click on Installations. In the main section of the window, a list will appear, and if it’s sorted by Software Name, you can click the header to reverse the list (or scroll to the bottom) to see the entry for “XProtectPayloads.” The update is version 147. (This list is historical and will show previous versions if you’re interested.)

The update should install automatically, but you can force the installation by using one of the utilities Oakley has created: SilentKnight, which checks if macOS’s security has been updated, or LockRattler, which checks if macOS’s basic security functions are working. These free utilities can be downloaded from Oakley’s website.

Be sure to check out Oakley’s blog, which is a terrific mix of Mac technical articles and posts about painting. Oakley is a longtime Mac developer who has written several great Mac utilities.