How Jamf Protects Apple Endpoints Against Mac-Specific Threats
Jamf Protect is an end-to-end security solution built specifically for macOS, designed to maintain Mac endpoint compliance, prevent macOS-specific malware, control an organization’s macOS applications and detect and address Mac-specific threats.
The idea that Macs are automatically more secure than PCs is out of date: According to the 2022 Threat Review from information security company Malwarebytes, the number of detections on Mac devices doubled between 2020 and 2021.
Yet despite the increased attention Mac users are receiving from cybercriminals, many security vendors continue to build their threat detection, prevention and elimination capabilities for Windows first, before porting their Windows-based models to Mac.
That’s a problem for Mac users, whose devices of choice have inner workings for files, processes and networks that do not resemble their Windows counterparts – and the attacks on them don’t either.
Fortunately, Mac-specific cyberattacks can be prevented by Mac-specific security solutions. Enter Jamf Protect.
What is Jamf Protect?
Jamf Protect is an end-to-end security solution built specifically for macOS, designed to maintain Mac endpoint compliance, prevent macOS-specific malware, control an organization’s macOS applications and detect and address Mac-specific threats such as phishing, cryptojacking and command and control traffic with minimal impact on the device or user experience. It can also be paired with Jamf Pro and/or Jamf Connect, unlocking extensive automation, investigation and remediation capabilities.
The platform builds on Apple’s core macOS security and pairs it with day-of support for macOS upgrades, ensuring that Jamf Protect users always experience the latest version of macOS the moment it’s released without disrupting their work or delaying their security coverage.
Why Jamf Protect?
You don’t need to be a computer expert to recognize the importance of incorporating anti-virus software into today’s enterprise systems. Both Windows and Apple devices come with basic anti-virus software installed – in macOS’s case, XProtect, Gatekeeper and MRT, which are designed to identify, quarantine and remove malware from various sources. However, these tools are updated sporadically and provide organizations with limited visibility into their operations.
Jamf Protect, on the other hand, provides enterprises with full organizational visibility of any malware identified, quarantined and/or deleted, in addition to notifying users of any threats to avoid future risky behaviour. In addition to incorporating XProtect, Gatekeeper and MRT’s anti-virus capabilities, the platform also uses Jamf’s own extensive knowledge of macOS-specific malware, developed through research and third-party feeds, and enables IT teams to create custom detections to minimize risks unique to their organization.
What are the benefits and capabilities of Jamf Protect?
While Jamf Protect’s features are impressive on their own, adding Jamf Pro provides IT teams with access to many other security capabilities, including:
- Limiting the apps users can access to a specific library of vetted applications
- Controlling which USB devices can be used to connect and exchange data with company devices
- Detecting advanced threats by using a Mac device’s behavioural analytics monitoring features
- Automatically restricting a threatened device or user’s access to network resources
- Collecting a device’s forensic and standard context data
- Wiping an infected device by remotely redeploying macOS and its associated applications
Jamf Pro also enables IT teams to monitor, process, file and authenticate activity on Mac devices with minimal impact on end users, monitoring device use along with user adherence to security standards and forwarding the associated data for analysis or storage on another device.
How CDW can help protect your Mac devices
Few organizations use only one tool for all of their cybersecurity needs, making it critical that the various platforms used integrate well with each other to maximize the effectiveness of an IT team’s security efforts.
CDW can not only help secure your organization’s Mac devices with Jamf Protect, but help you take advantage of its built-in integration features, combining it with security and event management (SIEM) tools such as Microsoft Azure Sentinel to display Jamf Protect data for your Mac devices alongside Windows-based security alerts.