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RichardLBRRichardLBR
in SecuritySpy

I have read the docs, and the recommended way to have SS behind a login screen is to have auto login and then use the Lock Screen utility to go back to the login screen.

However, to enable auto login I need to disable file vault.

So even if I set up a separate user for SS and log that in automatically, if my regular iCloud account is also on the Mac, then my data is unencrypted.

Are there any other options?

Is it really impossible for SS to start as a service on boot rather than user login? I haven't read about it in detail but isn't launchd Apple's way of loading services at boot? https://developer.apple.com/library/archive/documentation/MacOSX/Conceptual/BPSystemStartup/Chapters/CreatingLaunchdJobs.html

Comments

  • BenBen

    With FileVault enabled, auto-login is not allowed by macOS.

    In addition, as a standard application with a user interface, SecuritySpy cannot run before login. To allow this would require significant modification to SecuritySpy (basically separating out its core operations into a daemon process). We are unlikely to do this due to the large amount of work this would require, along with some key challenges that this would present (e.g. related to network, camera and audio access).

    There is currently no way around these above two limitations, sorry.

  • RichardLBRRichardLBR
    edited April 2

    Ok. I understand that setting up the application as a client / server application would be a significant undertaking (and maybe it wouldn't even work), but it would get my vote.

    I think I have a part solution though. I have installed my main iCloud account on the internal drive that has FileVault on, and then I have another Mac OS install on an external SSD with a backup account on. The external install doesn't have FileVault on, and logs in at boot. I have SS installed on both accounts, with mirrored settings. Both write the CCTV files to the same external drive.

    Then I normally run SS via my main iCloud account, but the default boot disk is the external SSD. So in the event of an unscheduled reboot, it will boot the external SSD and log in automatically. If this happens I can reboot back to the internal drive manually.

    So my Mac is secure and has FileVault, and I can use it for other purposes given the headroom my m4 mini has when running SS. But I should always be running SS even after an unscheduled reboot (via the unencrypted backup drive).

    There is an issue though - SS complains of no route to host on reboot. The CCTV cameras are still accessible via the web browser, and after logging into them a few times, SS fixes the connection, but I am not sure why it is not connecting. I guessed it was a dhcp issue, but manually renewing the lease doesn't fix it. Any ideas?

    Also, would I need 2 SS subscriptions under this scenario? i.e. is the license per device, or per drive?

    Thanks

  • RichardLBRRichardLBR

    I need to do more testing, but this might be working now.

    I have set the Mac name to the same for both drives, and I specified the ip4 addresses for the cameras rather than using bonjour (not sure if this matters).

    It now seems to pick up the cameras on reboot, but some sort of automatic reconnection attempt by SS would probably be useful.


    Thanks

  • BenBen

    This is an ingenious workaround! This requires only one license, since you aren't using more than one instance of SecuritySpy at one time.

    The "no route to host" issue is macOS blocking access to SecuritySpy. This is based on a new permission option at System Settings > Privacy & Security > Local Network.

    We have seen that this setting doesn't always work as expected. The main thing to do is update to the very latest macOS. The other thing that we have seen that helps here is to make sure there is only one single instance of SecuritySpy on your file system (otherwise macOS can get confused as to which application it is meant to allow access to). However, under your scheme, you must keep two instances of SecuritySpy that are both visible on the file system when logged into your main account, so it could be this that is causing macOS to unexpectedly block network access to SecuritySpy. If possible, make sure the external drive is unmounted when using SecuritySpy on your main account.

  • RichardLBRRichardLBR

    Thanks Ben. One license is good!

    The no route to host appears to have resolved. I did update to the latest Mac OS, so maybe that was the fix as you suggest.

    Stopping auto mount of the drives seems to be somewhat complex, but as it works without this I will leave for now.

    If anyone else does this, don't store the FileVault drive password in the backup account! You will be prompted for it on boot into the backup account and when selecting the internal drive to boot from.

    I might try and write a script to boot into the alternative drives, and another to send an email if the backup account gets loaded.

    By the way, I have switched from BlueIris. Very happy overall with SS.

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