Centrify's Centrify User Suite, Mac Edition is the industry’s first solution to provide robust Active Directory-based authentication, policy management, single sign-on (SSO) and user self-service for connected and remote Mac OS X systems.
With Centrify User Suite, Mac Edition (Centrify for Mac), on-premise and remote Macs and mobile devices are integrated into Microsoft Active Directory (AD), leveraging organizations’ existing AD infrastructures, processes and skill sets to deliver enhanced security and easy management for IT, and simplified, secure access for Mac users at work.
As a complement to its historic agent-based approach for providing Active Directory-based authentication and Group Policy management, Centrify has now added a cloud-based option for managing Macs. By extending the Centrify Cloud Service to manage remote Macs and providing administrators and users with self-service capabilities such as remote lock and remote wipe of a Mac, IT staff for the first time have the flexibility to use a single solution to manage Macs using a combination of both on-premise software and/or a cloud-based offering.
New functionality enables IT to apply new MDM profiles for Macs (e.g. VPN, Wi-Fie, passcode) and configure Wi-Fi for user or computer PKI authentication. What's more, enterprise managed Macs can optionally enroll in cloud-based management, while BYOMac systems can enroll to gain access to Enterprise Services.
Also, Centrify is combining its Centrify for Mobile offering as part of the Centrify for Mac solution to deliver a new combined solution based on a per-user subscription pricing. This allows IT staff to manage their employees’ multiple devices -- including Macs, iOS and Android devices -- under a single per-user license.
In addition, data on Mac systems is now secured through centrally managed File Vault 2 full-disk encryption security policies and institution encryption keys to ensure protection of data at rest on these highly portable systems. Filevault 2 configuration policies are centrally managed through Group Policies with support enterprise-managed Institution keys. Disk unlock rights are granted to AD users configured as the assigned manager of the computer, tightly controlling access to these portable systems.
"The Bring Your Own" trend involving Macs, mobile devices and new mobile applications means that IT organizations increasingly don’t own the endpoint devices or back-end application resources on their networks. At the same time, end users are increasingly challenged to deal with the password sprawl associated with the on-premise and cloud-based services they need to access in order to perform their jobs.
Centrify provides a unified approach to managing an employee’s digital identity that spans their applications, Macs and mobile devices, providing the visibility and control required for IT organizations to achieve compliance, reduce costs and mitigate risks, while also increasing productivity and securing access for their user centric, mobile workforce.
In many organizations, Macs are becoming more prevalent and disconnected from the corporate network, requiring a hybrid on-premise and cloud-based approach to comprehensively manage authentication, configure security policies, and enable user self-service features regardless of device location. At the same time, Apple is increasingly enabling Bring Your Own Mac with remote management and policy configuration for Macs based on technology similar to how iiPhones and iPads are managed today.
Centrify for Mac provides organizations with centralized administration, strengthened security, and simplified user experience through SSO across their users’ multiple mobile (iOS and Android) and computing devices.
