I just updated to 15.4. Trying to open a simple text file (with srt extension) pops this up: "Apple could not verify" xxxx.srt "is free of malware that may harm your Mac or compromise your privacy." Some other srt files open fine.
This is a dealbreaker for me if I can't disable this "feature". I know I can go burrowing into settings and exempt this one file. No. How do I turn off the whole thing?
MacBook Pro 16″
Dessicator wrote:
etresoft, why do you think that's a malware site? I've downloaded many subtitles from it. They have nothing but subtitles in them, and I've never had any trouble.
Any subtitle file that I click on opens up this very respectable looking new "Browser Update" window:
I've obscured the name of the site, but I left the very respectable "xyz" TLD.
To display that page, it redirects to a couple of other similarly respectable domains first. One of those URLs is 12 lines long. It isn't doing these redirect via standard HTTP methods. The first redirect is done via Javascript somewhere on the site itself. I didn't bother to look where. The second redirect is also done via Javascript, but this time using very respectable and very obfuscated Javascript.
Normally I would look at these things on the command line with curl or similar. That didn't work in this case. I had to use Safari's Web Inspector timeline. I must have clicked on links at least 30 times altogether.
But curiously, one of those clicks via Safari's web Inspector actually didn't give me the whole respectable redirection. It gave me a different page with what may have been download links. So it's a website that seems to be able to detect when it's being inspected and alter its behaviour to work more legitimately in that scenario. OK, then!
I did once get a page for the "Best Crypto Casino and Online Sports Betting". Sadly, it wasn't available in my jurisdiction. Maybe because we have laws here?
I keep trying. Now I get a page where I can "Get paid for testing apps, games & surveys". Sure. Oh, look. I can sign in with Google or Facebook, but not Apple. Bummer.
But still I keep trying. I am able to get that legitimate-looking download page one more time. I click on one of the "translate" buttons and I'm back to the original redirector.
But wait! The "English" version has a "download" button. I click that - still the redirection. In not a single case was I able to download an SRT file.
If this really is a source of 10,364,786 subtitles, then perhaps Apple is right to associate SRT files with malware.
Thanks, but they still won't open.
Sorry that didn't work. Hopefully someone will have another idea.
I found a fix: https://disable-gatekeeper.github.io/
The fact that a system designed to prevent users from launching applications is also blocking text files suggests it is not well designed.
etresoft, why do you think that's a malware site? I've downloaded many subtitles from it. They have nothing but subtitles in them, and I've never had any trouble.
[Edited by Moderator]
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Thanks, John. I saw that one last night while on my iPad, and then the recollection fell out of my ear. 😀
I'll give it a go.
For the record, the workaround is effective only until you shut down the Mac.
When you restart it, the process will have to be repeated.
Sequoia 15.4 refusing to open files - possible malware
