Configuring the Mac OS for Secure Environments

As Enterprise businesses increasingly adopt Mac OS computers, regulatory compliance has grown in importance on the platform. While Windows system administrators have long had a variety of solutions from which to choose, the Mac system admin faces a lack of mature tools that Alert, Report and Remediate Control Objectives. The Casper Suite fills this gap by combining technologies that are native to the platform (Mac OS) with a management framework (The Casper Suite) that automates many of the processes.

The United States Government Configuration Baseline (USGCB) standard will dictate specific control objectives for all Macintosh computers used by the Federal Government. This much-anticipated specification will be based on Secure Technical Implementation Guides (STIGs), a standard which many government agencies have adopted or are in the process of adopting. The Casper Suite provides a management framework which is flexible in its ability to report and remediate a broad variety of Control Objectives and compliance with multiple STIGs.

JAMF Software's exposure to the process in which the STIGs were created has informed the creation of our Security Control Objective Checklist, detailing 103 of the most commonly requested controls. While the focus of our effort has been to meet the needs of our Federal clients, these same Control Objectives are common requirements in Sarbanes-Oxley (SOX) Purchasing Card Industry (PCI) regulations that govern the actions of our Commercial customers.

JAMF Software continues to monitor the evolution and introduction of regulations affecting customers who use the Mac OS and will update the Casper Suite as new regulations are introduced, enabling our customers to remain in regulatory compliance.

Extension Attributes

Extension Attributes allow the Casper Suite to integrate with products from Apple and other third-party developers to report information about Control Objectives using Smart Groups and Alerting.

Managed Preferences (MCX)

Managed Preferences (MCX) from Apple and other third-party manufacturers can be used in conjunction with scripts to achieve manual or automated remediation. Using The Casper Suite's Smart Groups and Policy Engine, remediation can be delivered via Self Service, Policy Enforcement or during the Imaging process.