Apple Defends the Role of Gatekeeper after Users Can’t Open Mac Apps [Updated]

upstart writes in with an IRC submission for Runaway1956_:

Apple defends the role of Gatekeeper after users can't open Mac apps:

Last week, Apple released the much-awaited macOS Big Sur update for everyone. While everyone rushed to get a new update, folks who didn't update at that moment faced a peculiar problem: they couldn't open their apps.

It's a frustrating situation when you rely on your computer for work, but can't do anything because a server is messed up. That's right, as developer Jeff Johnson noted, the issue was caused by Apple's Online Certificate Service Protocol (OCSP) server crashed - largely due to many users downloading the new update simultaneously.

The OCSP server is responsible for authenticating digital certificates of all apps - both Apple and third-party. Apple calls this feature Gatekeeper, and the company claims it helps to prevent apps without valid certificates from opening to maintain user security.

It doesn't matter if you've downloaded your app from the App Store or not. So when users were trying to just open their apps, they had to wait for the OCSP server to authenticate the app for them, but they weren't getting any response. The easiest solution was to turn off the internet to launch apps. Apple evidently fixed the problem in a few hours.

[2020-11-19 00:50:34 UTC; Updated to add the following. --martyb]

Ars Technica breaks down OCSP in more detail and also summarizes Apple's response in: Mac certificate check stokes fears that Apple logs every app you run:

Read more of this story at SoylentNews.