How to ensure security and privacy for macOS devices with MDM?

Devices running macOS are one of the mainstream endpoints used in a business ecosystem. Though these devices are highly corporate-friendly and secure, organizations are looking to reinforce the security and privacy of such devices from all external and internal vulnerabilities and security threats. Hexnode offers a solution through which you can remotely configure enterprise-grade security and privacy settings on work deployed devices.

The UEM configurations can be deployed as policies or as one-time remote actions.

The security and privacy policies for macOS in Hexnode includes,

• Passcode policy allows you to mandate password protection on your device to prevent unauthorized users from accessing the Mac. You can even configure this policy to automatically lock the device when kept idle.
• Basic and advanced restrictions policy can be used to limit the device functionalities and to secure the corporate data on the device. For instance, the gatekeeper profile “App installations from” blocks users from installing apps from other than the Mac App Store and identified developers. You can even remotely enable Activation Lock with Hexnode restrictions. If enabled, the device will enter an Activation locked state when it is wiped by a person who doesn’t know the Apple ID credentials added on the device.
• Required apps policy can be used to privately deploy work authorized apps to the Mac machines. This includes VPP and in-house apps.
• Smart Card authentication policy enforces users to possess their smart card and PIN to log in to their Mac devices securely.
• FileVault is a full disc encryption program that protects your data by encrypting the disk contents. This prevents users from accessing information stored on your device without entering the passcode.
• Firewall policy can halt a third party from exploiting the applications on your device. It also protects the device from attacks by creating a barrier between the external and internal networks.
• Certificates policy allows you to securely push sensitive data in the form of certificates like Wi-Fi and Exchange ActiveSync identity certificates, etc., to user’s devices.
• Blocklist/Allowlist and Web Content Filtering policies enable you to limit users from accessing non-work-approved apps and websites to keep the corporate data safe.
• Schedule OS updates policy for Mac can be used to employ a systematic OS update mechanism. With this policy, you can delay the update so that you can determine the compatibility of your current workflow with the new OS and make changes if required. This enables you to avail the device and security features specific to the new version without compromising the current device posture.
• Time Limits policy allows you to restrict users from logging in to their Mac devices at the specified time periods, thereby enforcing better control over the devices.
• Login Window Preferences policy enables you to customize the login window on your macOS devices based on your security and privacy requirements.
• VPN policy in macOS can be used to enhance security by redirecting the network traffic through a private network to minimize data interception.
• Create a virtual fence around a geographical region using geofencing policy. You can alter the availability of the corporate resources as the device enters and exits the virtual boundary through this policy.
• Mac Asset binding policy enables you to set the organizational Active Directory as the identity provider. This ensures that the users can only log in by authenticating their directory credentials.
• The Privacy Preferences policy in Hexnode enables you to manage the access for apps and process to protected privacy services on the Mac on behalf of the user.
• Media management policy enables you to administer the use of external, internal, optical media and disk images. This helps to keep the data under control and protected.
• Compliance configuration enables you to monitor the devices’ compliance with the organizational policies and protocols. If the device turns non-compliant, the concerned parties can be automatically alerted through this feature.
• Location tracking feature assists the organization in tracking the movements of the device. This is an extremely important policy that helps to keep the fieldworker devices in check.

Remote actions available on Hexnode to ensure device security and data privacy include,

• To prevent corporate data from being compromised, use device wipe action to wipe the whole device. Use corporate wipe to remotely wipe the corporate data on personal devices.
• Lock device action can be sent to lock the device screen if you suspect the device is lost/stolen. Mac devices with Silicon chip can be unlocked with the admin password. On the contrary, the system lock PIN is required to unlock devices without an Apple Silicon chip.
• Instant location of the device can be fetched with the scan device location action.