Apple Engineering Request

Question

Level 1

10 points

Apple Engineering Request

I have had an email request from a Jesse Joe Miller (Apple Care) as an Apple Engineering Request for information from my computer regarding problems I have encountered adding Canon printers to my Mac using Lion. Has anyone else had such a request, should I be cautious or is it really Apple Care trying their best to help us? Do the 'Logs' give total access to my computer, and by association to my on line banking etc etc? There's not a cat in h chance I would allow this on the PC, but somehow I nievely trust Apple.

After initial contact the email Full script says:

Engineering would like to gather some logs from your computer to see if they can determine if there were any other issues with drivers that we might be able to find. This is our Capture Data utility. If you can run it using the instructions below, I would greatly appreciate it.

Once you open it, there will be an agreement to go through.

Once Agreed, De-select Mac OS X Mail Information.

Then click start.

It will then ask for your admin password, enter this then click continue.

It will take a few minutes to capture the information. Once it does, it will ask for a description of the issue, enter your estimation of the issue, then the approximate date and time of the incident.

So if anyone can enlighten me... Thanks

iMac, Mac OS X (10.7)

Posted on Sep 15, 2011 1:58 AM

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Answer 1

PAHU

Level 6

16,723 points

Sep 15, 2011 2:22 AM in response to NChapz

In the 10+ years I've supported printers on Mac I've never seen such a request, although I would have to add that I've never purchased AppleCare with any of the Mac's I've had. I'm also surprised that they are offering to investigate a printer vendors issue. Usually they put it back on them, in your case Canon.

What issue are you having and with what model of Canon? There are a number of limitations that Canon has published regarding Lion with their products.

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Answer 2

Sep 15, 2011 6:05 AM in response to NChapz

I have seen a couple of times people have mentioned that they have been contacted by Apple for more information. To help determine if it is legitmate or not, consider:

1. Did you previously contact Apple Care about such a problem? Were you given a case number and is that number included in the request for information.

2. Did you make post to the Apple Support Communities about such a problem?

3. Do you understand enough to read the long headers of the e-mail they sent you? You could take the originating domain and use the "Whois" tab in Network Utility (/Applications/Utilities) to determine if it in fact came from Apple.

4. You could call Apple Care and ask them to verify the request. If you call Apple Care to verify, you know that your are actually talking with Apple as you initiated the call. If it is a bogus or phishing request, I am sure Apple would like to know about it.

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Answer 3

Sep 15, 2011 7:00 AM in response to NChapz

It will then ask for your admin password, enter this then click continue.

Just as a precaution copy/paste this email address reportphishing@apple.com into a new mail window so you can report this to Apple.

Copy / paste the the email you received.

Apple will never contact you asking for your Apple ID so asking for an admin password sounds "phishy" to me.

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Answer 4

Sep 15, 2011 7:26 AM in response to Carolyn Samit

It's not Apple who are asking for the admin password, the instructions say the "Capture Data" utility will in order to run and collect the logs. This is normal for utilities that need to access system files so doesn't necessarily = phishing attempt.

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Answer 5

capaho

Level 4

3,677 points

Sep 15, 2011 7:38 AM in response to NChapz

Look at the full mail headers and find the originating "Received: from" line to see where the message originated from. If it's an Apple IP address, 17.xxx.xxx.xxx, it's probably legit. If it didn't originate from an Apple mail server, it's probably bogus.

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Answer 6

turingtest2

Level 10

278,263 points

Sep 15, 2011 10:26 AM in response to NChapz

Wise to be cautious. That said I have had engineering contact me directly following a bug report I made so it does happen occasionally.

In this case I've run across something that tells me that the request is genuine, but of course you may not want to take my word for it.

tt2

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Answer 7

NChapz Author

Level 1

10 points

Sep 17, 2011 2:41 AM in response to turingtest2

Thanks everone for your help. I'm right to be cautiious, yes indeed, so I decided to ring Apple Care UK, (at 5p per minute it was worth it), as I do want the printer to work, and no doubt others in same boat do too. They very helpfully investigated the source of the email, and telephoned USA for confirmation; the outcome of which was that this is now one of the ways they contact Apple users for feedback and logs to help them, and that the aforementioned Jesse is indeed an employee of Apple in Sacramento. So all is well. Thanks everyone.

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