5 ways Jamf secures macOS 11 Big Sur

With macOS 11 Big Sur, Apple introduced their latest operating system for Mac this week. Not only did this release include a series of new security features, it also included many fixes and improvements in various components. Even though Mac users have always been enthusiastic about adopting the latest macOS release, security and IT teams have often had to temper that excitement while they deal with the realities of rolling out a new version of an operating system.

One of the primary concerns has always been: how do we secure this new version of macOS and minimize business disruption due to compatibility issues?

Let’s dig into five ways Jamf can help you with this.

1. Upgrade to the most secure macOS yet.

Jamf has a long history of supporting the latest Apple OS on the day it is released. When macOS 11 Big Sur launched, we continued this tradition with same-day support across our Apple Enterprise Management platform of solutions. Jamf products will not stand in the way of your organization’s rollout of macOS 11 Big Sur. Instead, they will support your success by connecting, managing and protecting your devices. Our step-by-step macOS Big Sur Upgrade for Beginners guide can help you get started.

2. Use Proactive macOS security baselines for macOS 11 Big Sur.

Ensuring that every device has a consistent baseline of security settings sounds simple, but can be complex. With Jamf Pro and Jamf Protect, you can ensure that your devices adopt your security settings and measure them against this baseline. You can quickly identify and remediate any changes introduced during the macOS 11 Big Sur rollout. This will help you focus on security issues that actually need your attention rather than manually reapplying the screensaver timer settings… again.

3. Prevent threats.

Jamf Protect is designed for macOS from the ground up. It provides anti-virus functionality by preventing known Mac malware and through application controls that restrict unwanted applications, minimizing your risk profile. As you roll out macOS 11 Big Sur, Jamf Protect will continue to prevent Mac-specific attacks without the need to install a kernel extension. Built on Apple’s Endpoint Security Framework, Jamf Protect provides Apple-first prevention capabilities requiring no manual intervention to upgrade to macOS 11 Big Sur.

4. Align resources.

Introducing macOS 11 Big Sur into your organization can be stressful. Security teams aligned with IT are much more effective in responding to any malicious activity in their organization than those who are not. Jamf Pro arms IT admins with the capability to build out complex remediation processes that align with other device management needs. Security teams can then leverage Jamf Protect’s behavioral detects, using those processes to isolate devices, manipulate data/settings, interact with end-users and even redeploy macOS. With the coordination of IT and Security across Jamf’s products, your organization can be aligned and receive full OS support while deploying macOS 11 Big Sur.

5. Minimize business disruptions.

Even with the most comprehensive compatibility testing in IT labs, there will be some devices running a unique mix of software and hardware that have some unfortunate interactions when rolling out any new OS update. Identifying those issues and addressing them quickly is a core need for any IT organization. With Jamf Protect, Unified Log data from Mac devices can be centrally collected in SIEMS or other systems-of-record to proactively identify failures, errors, or other issues that may increase the device risk profile. There is no reason for you to wait until a user is frustrated enough with their machine to call for help when you can reach out to them ahead of time. And in today’s remote working world, where employees are logging in from unsecured networks or an unauthorized user gets their hands on devices, security concerns are at an all-time high. Because Jamf Connect requires a cloud identity username and password, IT admins are able to monitor who is accessing their devices and leverage cloud admin permissions to service machines while maintaining security and compliance standards across all devices and users.

At Jamf, we are excited by all the new capabilities that macOS 11 Big Sur brings to the table and hope we can help you succeed with your rollout.