Kandji, which specializes in device management and security, has announced new innovations to empower technology and security teams through the Device Harmony platform.
Kandji’s latest release streamlines device management workflows and brings critical security and user experience enhancements to bolster the overall management and security posture for the Apple-driven organization, while further enabling IT and InfoSec teams to seamlessly work together to keep enterprise Apple users secure and productive, according to founder and CEO Adam Pettit.
“According to Apple, there are nearly 2 billion active Apple devices worldwide, up from 1.5 billion the year prior. As consumers continue to increasingly choose Apple for their personal device use, the demand for the same delightful Apple experience in a professional setting also increases. So, it’s no surprise that we continue to see an impressive upward trajectory of Apple devices in the enterprise,” he said. “Today’s organizations require robust device management capabilities that still offer a streamlined and useful experience for Apple users and admins. With this new release, we’re thrilled to further deliver a comprehensive set of solutions that will enable IT and InfoSec teams to easily manage and secure all areas of the Apple environment.”
The new features announced today support a set of device management, security, and user experience requirements, significantly expanding what can be managed for the Apple enterprise endpoint.According to Pettit, newly released enhancements include:
- Apply configurations faster and receive real-time data from devices with Declarative Device Management (DDM): An industry-first for active management on supervised devices, this update shifts the passcode policies for iOS and iPadOS so they’re applied using configuration declarations instead of a legacy configuration profile. Kandji will continue to incorporate declarative management as Apple moves from configuration profiles to modern configuration declarations.
- Track lost iPhone and iPad devices with Lost Mode: Kandji customers can immediately track lost iPhone and iPad devices, without requiring iCloud, Location Services, or any action by the device user. Kandji’s Lost Mode layers additional automations into the Lost Mode capabilities provided by the Apple MDM framework. It enables device management professionals to secure corporate data and track down lost devices by alerting the admin if the device moves more than 50 meters and by auto-enabling Lost Mode in case of a reset. A host of other features make this capability an instant must-have for organizations relying on iPhone and iPad devices.
- Advanced flexibility for admins with User Attributes in Assignment Rules: Kandji now offers a deep-level of flexibility when it comes to fine-tuning the logic of Blueprints. Admins can now use the departments, user groups, or job title attributes, as defined with their identity provider, to determine whether the Blueprint should deploy a given Library Item to a specific device. This allows a single Blueprint to adapt to users’ needs across an organization—reducing the number of Blueprints that need to be maintained.
Pettit says new device security enhancements include:
- Drive Zero-Trust with Okta Device Trust integration: Built on the Okta Identity Engine, this integration will ensure that only managed devices can gain access to Okta-secured apps. Kandji’s integration will also feed into other Okta products, such as its passwordless authentication via FastPass.
- Streamline Mac login security with Kandji Passport’s support of Google Workspace: Passport now supports Google Workspace as an identity provider (IdP) and enables the use of Google Workspace credentials to log in to Mac computers.
He adds that the Device Management User Experience has been improved thanks to:
- Helpful links to resources for end users with Bookmarks: Organizations are able to provide users with links to resources via Bookmarks in Kandj’s Self Service app. This expands the Self Service app to be the one place Mac, iPhone, and iPad users go for all the resources provided to them by their IT team—including apps, scripts, and helpful links.
- Additions to the Kandji Menu Bar App: New additions include a module to link to Self Service, a button to update all apps, organized prompts that provide a clear picture of actions required, and a new button that allows users to patch all software needing updates with just one click.
- Error-resilient OS updates and upgrades via Managed OS: The next generation of Managed OS for Mac includes a complete rewrite of its architecture, tailored to fully capitalize on Apple’s MDM framework and Kandji’s new real-time communication platform between the Kandji Agent and server. New, user-initiated update prompts will also help in edge cases when the Mac cannot successfully update via MDM commands. This delivers faster, error-resilient OS updates and upgrades.
Article provided with permission from AppleWorld.Today