Jamf Protect shows the future for Mac security and everyone should use it

If you want to protect yourself online you need to think beyond virus checkers and firewalls, because it’s not a question of if you’ll ever be hacked but a matter of how will you know if you are, and what will you do. And, fundamentally, this is the problem Jamf Protect — introduced at Jamf’s brilliant JNUC event –  solves for Mac users.

What is Jamf protect?

Imagine if your Macs were smart enough that they could identify the system behaviours most often evidenced when they are hacked, malware (such as keyloggers or data grabbers) is installed, or surreptitious attempts are made to send stolen data back to servers you don’t recognise by apps you didn’t know existed.

The fact is that apps are already almost smart enough. This kind of activity is already visible when you open Activity Viewer, but it becomes usable with Jamf Protect.

Jamf Protect usés information like this in order to provide enterprise endpoint protection for Macs. To achieve this it makes use of native Apple/Mac security tools as well as ongoing analysis of what your Macs are doing.

The information is shared with enterprise security teams, which means they get unparalleled visibility into what their Mac fleets are doing. If an unknown or suspect action is identified then the security teams are alerted to the activity. They can also review all reported such activity through a clear, highly visual user interface — and they can take action to address any identified threat remotely over any Mac in their Jamf-supported fleet.

Jamf Protect is available for commercial organizations in the United States. Its announcement follows the Jamf purchase of Digita Security in 2019.

Does this thing work?

It looks like it does. Jamf Protect was recently issued CIS Benchmarks certification by the CIS (Center for Internet Security, Inc). That means that enterprises who choose to use Jamf Protect can ensure the configurations of their critical assets align with CIS Benchmarks.

“Cybersecurity challenges are mounting daily, which makes the need for standard configurations imperative. By certifying its product with CIS, Jamf has demonstrated its commitment to actively solve the foundational problem of ensuring standard configurations are used throughout a given enterprise,” said Curtis Dukes, CIS Executive Vice President of Security Best Practices & Automation Group.

What Jamf is saying…

“As Mac continues to grow in the enterprise, a security solution focused on increasing an organization’s Mac security posture is needed more than ever,” said Jamf’s inspirational CEO, Dean Hager.

“We’re excited to bring the same Apple expertise to security that we’ve brought to device management, and continue to fulfil our mission of helping organizations succeed with Apple.”

“Because of Jamf’s Apple-first and Apple-only approach, Jamf Protect is unique in how it provides a granular view of native macOS security capabilities and an analysis of real-time events, which is essential to helping security teams gain visibility into their Mac fleet,” said Josh Stein, Director of Product Strategy, Jamf Protect.

“Jamf Protect monitors for system-wide activity, enabling security teams to take action against Mac-based threats which may otherwise go unnoticed, all while allowing organizations to embrace new OS functionality from day one.”

Why does this matter?

I see Jamf Protect as a cutting edge implementation of the kind of intelligent, edge-based security that will define future security environments.

I believe that every modern system will eventually monitor this kind of system-level activity in order to deliver robust security on the edge.

I also think we’ll see this kind of information increasingly shared between different entities — enterprises, government, military and the rest in order to create international shared collective edge-based security protection.

In this picture, if a series of attempts to undermine security are identified across disparate companies in different countries, data concerning the footprint of such activity will also be shared, and made available to security protection.

This will expedite identification and protection of any Mac against attacks.

In conversations today at the Jamf JNUC event, I found persons from Insight, SAP, IBM and others who agreed that the future of security is situation and context-aware, edge-based, and supplemented by machine intelligence while being bolstered by privacy awareness.

This is the future, Jamf Protect is a unique Mac product that builds the road toward such a future.

What does Jamf Protect do today?

Jamf isn’t making huge claims, simply saying its solution ensures enterprise security while upholding the Apple experience end users crave.

You see, many of the most effective security protections pose additional friction on the user experience. They stop users doing things, make things harder to do, and in so doing reduce the value of the entire experience.

Which sucks.

Jamf Protect gets out of your way, delivering additional protection at minimal cost in terms of system cycles (because most of this information is already being gathered) and at a very limited consequence in terms of user experience.

And yet the protection remains highly effective when it comes to actually protecting your Mac fleet.

It’s cutting edge stuff.

Here’s what it does:

Gain native tool visibility

Gain and extend visibility into macOS built-in security tools like XProtect and Gatekeeper for awareness and improved reporting, compliance and security posture.

Attain on-device activity analysis

Receive real-time alerts to analyze activity on the device and choose whether to proactively block, isolate or remediate threats.

Secure data control

Collect granular control over what data is collected and where it is sent, including directly into your existing SIEM.

Champion end-user experience

Through Jamf Protect’s kextless agent and minimal use of device resources, preserve an end-user experience that keeps employees productive and happy.

Support from day-one

Using Apple’s newly-released Endpoint Security Framework, teams can support the latest and most secure macOS experience from the first day a new operating system is available.

Audit against CIS benchmarks

Understand and increase your security posture fleetwide with the ability to measure against CIS benchmarks.

I’m at the huge Jamf event all week this week and there will be much more to report during the show.