How to satisfy a recurrent 'Security and Privacy' pop-up?

Exact same problem for me.   Tried adding Sophos to my Firewall exclusion list but did not help.

Mac High Sierra 10.13.6

Macbook Air 2017

Sophos Home Edition 9.7.7

Please advise asap

Hi Dave Dudek & jeff s 

If you are using Sophos Home premium, you can open a support case form the Sophos Home Dashboard. 

Refer: Contacting Sophos Home Support

If the previously mentioned steps did not help you, please check if you have enabled multiple kext extension and see if you remove the unused ones. 

note: If you are still facing the kext issue even after reinstalling the Mac OS, then the issue could be something else and might not be Sophos.

I do not have premium.

What does 'multiple kext extension' mean?

what is a 'kext issue'?

Clearly if 3 people are having the exact same problem, on just this thread, there's a Sophos issue.

We're not going to reinstall our entire MacOS just because Sophos is buggy.

Please escalate this issue to your manager.

Hi jeff s 

jeff s said:

what is a 'kext issue'?

Due to a new security mechanism that Apple has released with MacOS 10.13 called Secure Kernel Extension Loading (SKEL), all non-Apple kernel extension (what we use to intercept files, etc) vendors must be manually added to a trusted list (Any user can add this). This allows the kernel extensions to load and is required for Sophos Anti-Virus to function properly. All third-party vendors are impacted by this change and it is not possible to work around this requirement.

Note: Due to an Apple security restriction, this cannot be done via a remote desktop connection. There must be a locally logged in user. 

1. After installing Sophos Anti-Virus go to Security & Privacy in the Apple System Preferences window.
2. Near the bottom of the window, it will list the blocked Kernel Extensions (kexts) by Sophos. Click the Allow button.

Please try out the previously mentioned suggestions to see what is preventing Sophos kext from getting enabled.

To check if they are already enabled open the Terminal window in your mac client and enter the below command.

sqlite3 /var/db/SystemPolicyConfiguration/KextPolicy "SELECT * from kext_policy”

The expected output should be as shown in the below image.

Or try the troubleshooting suggested in the KBA - MacOS: Secure Kernel Extension Loading troubleshooting

Hi jeff s 

jeff s said:

what is a 'kext issue'?

Due to a new security mechanism that Apple has released with MacOS 10.13 called Secure Kernel Extension Loading (SKEL), all non-Apple kernel extension (what we use to intercept files, etc) vendors must be manually added to a trusted list (Any user can add this). This allows the kernel extensions to load and is required for Sophos Anti-Virus to function properly. All third-party vendors are impacted by this change and it is not possible to work around this requirement.

Note: Due to an Apple security restriction, this cannot be done via a remote desktop connection. There must be a locally logged in user. 

1. After installing Sophos Anti-Virus go to Security & Privacy in the Apple System Preferences window.
2. Near the bottom of the window, it will list the blocked Kernel Extensions (kexts) by Sophos. Click the Allow button.

Please try out the previously mentioned suggestions to see what is preventing Sophos kext from getting enabled.

To check if they are already enabled open the Terminal window in your mac client and enter the below command.

sqlite3 /var/db/SystemPolicyConfiguration/KextPolicy "SELECT * from kext_policy”

The expected output should be as shown in the below image.

Or try the troubleshooting suggested in the KBA - MacOS: Secure Kernel Extension Loading troubleshooting

I was able to run the command with sudo and providing my password:

sudo sqlite3 /var/db/SystemPolicyConfiguration/KextPolicy "SELECT * from kext_policy"
2H5GFH3774|com.sophos.kext.sfm|1|Sophos|8
2H5GFH3774|com.sophos.kext.oas|1|Sophos|8
2H5GFH3774|com.sophos.driver.devctrl|1|Sophos|8
2H5GFH3774|com.sophos.nke.swi|1|Sophos|8

MacBook Pro (15-inch, 2016)
macOS Mojave Version 10.14.2
Sophos Version 9.8.2

What does this mean?

There is an article here on this: support.home.sophos.com/.../115005363986-System-Extension-Blocked-appears-on-new-installations-on-macOS-High-Sierra-10-13-and-macOS-Mojave-10-14

Thanks, but I already followed the steps from that article. My issue is I cannot complete step #5 because that message (System software from developer "Sophos" was blocked from loading.) nor the ALLOW button doesn't exist

Looks like the original poster here also doesn't have an ALLOW button.

Any ideas?

I can't test this directly, since I'm running 10.12 Sierra, not 10.13 HSierra, to which this ("SKEL" Secure Kernel Extension Loading) applies. But I'm reading that the option in Sys Prefs to Allow lasts only for 30 min, and then disappears.

My educated guess is that thereafter (or if it somehow fails) this probably needs to be done manually from Terminal in Recovery Mode. Please see my last reply, of 2/4/19, for directions, at bottom https://community.sophos.com/products/free-antivirus-tools-for-desktops/f/sophos-anti-virus-for-mac-home-edition/110267/keep-showing-action-required-when-nothing-can-be-done

Based on Sophos aricle community.sophos.com/.../132813