What and where is the Gatekeeper app or service? The answer is that it’s a collaborative system or technology to check apps and ensure that only trusted software is run.
AMFI
Is macOS going to be like iOS? Not in Ventura, where notarization is improved with additional security checks. Here are the details.
App translocation, signature checks, XProtect and more explained, with key messages from the log to help you diagnose problems.
How have checks of notarization changed what happens when you open a quarantined app in Catalina? What does XProtect do?
How checks differ when an app is launched from a new path, and the effects of gross changes to the Resources folder, and small changes to code.
Why signature checks are so complex, and a walk through log entries of a notarized app launching normally in macOS 10.14.5.
Important changes for anyone distributing command tools in particular, and a good time to ensure you only ship signed and notarized apps if possible.
Has Gatekeeper been bypassed? Disclosed details of what is claimed to be a new vulnerability may not be all that they appear to be.
Look in Activity Monitor or the log, and you won’t find anything named Gatekeeper, is its a team of different systems, each of which can work on its own. Here’s the detail and a diagram.
App signatures are only checked on app first run – it may once have been true, but is no longer accurate. But can you bypass those additional checks? Is this a vulnerability?
The Eclectic Light Company 