Security Bytes: Exploring the Rabbit Hole of Little-Known and Ingenious Terminal Commands (Pt. 3)

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You can stop holding your breath. Explore the rabbit hole of neat and little-known terminal commands. i’m back! ICYMI, I’ve recently found myself fascinated by all the useful tricks Terminal can do to improve my productivity and overall become more proficient with my Mac as a security professional. In previous editions, we covered everything from enabling Touch ID for sudo authentication to cleaning up public Wi-Fi connections. This week I’ll be sharing even more commands that I’ve discovered since then.

Set an alarm within the terminal

If you’re struggling to take breaks between typing terminal commands like a sleep-deprived toddler and creating better shareholder value than Steve Jobs, who convinced the world that a $1,000 monitor stand was a necessary part of the human experience, we have news for you…

Quickly set alarms in just seconds from the command line in Terminal.

input leave (time). For example this:

leave 1846

This can also use local time by simply omitting the middle colon. For example, 641 would be 6:41 a.m. or 6:41 p.m., depending on which is earlier.

View detailed battery information with one command

I’m obsessed with keeping the battery health of my Apple devices at their best, especially my 2024 M3 MacBook Air, and I’m proud of how well they’re holding up. In addition to proving maximum capacity, the command below provides other useful statistics such as health, battery serial number, number of cycles, and firmware/hardware version.

system_profiler SPPowerDataType

Find previously saved passwords

It’s no secret that Apple’s Passwords app also includes all your saved Wi-Fi network passwords, but there’s an easier way to find them by searching for them in Terminal. Use the following command:

Security find-generic-password -wa (Wi-Fi Network)

This command searches your iCloud Keychain, similar to what the Passwords app does behind the scenes. If you use a familiar Wi-Fi network name and enter it correctly, the terminal will prompt you for your local password and boom!

Flash all hidden downloads

Even if you actively clear your browser history, your Mac retains all the databases you’ve ever downloaded. If you really want a clean slate and don’t want anyone to see what you’ve done, run the first command to see the contents, and the second command to clear the log.

1. sqlite3 ~/Library/Preferences/com.apple.LaunchServices.QuarantineEventsV* 'select LSQuarantineDataURLString from LSQuarantineEvent'
2. sqlite3 ~/Library/Preferences/com.apple.LaunchServices.QuarantineEventsV* 'delete from LSQuarantineEvent'

Change the default screenshot filename

If you’re like me, screenshots are one of the most frequently used utilities on my Mac. However, by default, each screenshot’s filename starts with “Screenshot”, which can be a little confusing if you’re working between applications to get each capture. Instead of having a bunch of “screenshot” filenames on your desktop, you can use this command to name your files based on the task you’re working on.

defaults write com.apple.screencapture name

exchange Enter any information to help you more easily identify your screenshot file. For example, I used the “security byte” below. Now every screenshot I take will start from this until I change it back to the default or something completely different.

Change the default screenshot file format

You can also adjust the screenshot file type. By default, new grabs use PNG. This is great for image quality, but may take up more space than necessary.

Supported formats include PNG, JPG, PDF, GIF, and TIFF.

For example, if you want to save a screenshot of a PDF, do this:

defaults write com.apple.screencapture name SecurityBite type pdf

Bonus: ASCII Aquarium

It provides no productivity or security benefits and only serves the sacred purpose of pure, unadulterated terminaltainment (copyright pending). If you already have Brew installed, you can skip the first command. Otherwise, enter both and watch your window transform into a living aquarium.

1. install brew (Now for you Command not found: brew If you receive an error message, try the following: /bin/bash -c "$(curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Homebrew/install/master/install.sh)")
2. brew install asciiquarium
3. after that, asciiquarium launch it

Security Bite is 9to5Mac’s weekly show that takes a deep dive into the world of Apple security. Every week, Arin Waichulis uncovers new threats, privacy concerns, vulnerabilities, and more in an ecosystem of more than 2 billion devices.

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