Apple Has a Way to Push Software Updates to OS X Automatically ⇥ reuters.com

Intriguing tidbit about the critical NTP patch, as reported by Jim Finkle of Reuters:

When Apple has released previous security patches, it has done so through its regular software update system, which typically requires user intervention.

The company decided to deliver the NTP bug fixes with its technology for automatically pushing out security updates, which Apple introduced two years ago but had never previously used, because it wanted to protect customers as quickly as possible due to the severity of the vulnerabilities, [Apple spokesman Bill] Evans said.

With Apple’s not-particularly-stellar track record as of late, this is a little worrying. However, given that this is the first time the mechanism has ever been used, it appears that they are being abundantly cautious. This means that users silently have part of their system patched without requiring any intervention or interruption.