Educause Security Discussion mailing list archives
Re: Need to restrict admin rights in macOS?
From: Clark Gaylord <cgaylord () VT EDU>
Date: Wed, 25 Mar 2020 20:59:48 -0400
An SOP I've been using that works well is to provision a second account user-admin as a local admin so that the user's normal account needn't be an admin. The Mac's secondary login features work very well so desktop login of the admin account is very rare. Homebrew is rather problematic. In this configuration the normal account is not in sudoers, which is a challenge for some homebrew installs. I've had to do a couple temporary updates to sudoers, play with chmod a little bit -- not ideal, but still this is a pretty good method to manage admin rights better. I think this is better than being an admin and obviously better than the usual antipattern of removing admin completely from the end-user. The latter seldom does anything except damage the credibility of our profession. -- Clark Gaylord cgaylord () vt edu ... autocorrect may have improved this message ... On Wed, Mar 25, 2020, 20:50 Ric Getter <ric.getter () pcc edu> wrote:
Thanks! We're also using Jamf and the group was having some problems elevating users for one-shot software installs. It seems like they may have figured it out. Curt, I'm guessing what you're saying is very true. We deal with the same kind of audits. Ronald, I think you'll like Jamf. They have a long history with the Mac in enterprise and their architecture has proven to be manageable for sys admins who do not. We're using NoMAD (now part of Jamf) for our AD integration and that has been working well. Translating Windows group policies into Mac profiles is always a challenge because there aren't that many 1:1 relationships. We have some people who are getting really good at it. Ric Ric Getter PCC Media Production/PCC-TV Portland Community College - Sylvania 971-722-8036 On Wed, Mar 25, 2020 at 9:40 AM Ric Getter <ric.getter () pcc edu> wrote:Group, I'd like to get some opinions on the need to restrict Mac users on the college staff (instructors, admin assistants, etc.) from having Admin rights, considerign all the current built-in protections in the macOS (System Integrity Protection, Gatekeeper, etc.). Disclaimer:, I am not a security pro, though I have had a fair amount of coursework in the field. My primary unofficial role here is as the resident, elder Mac guru (a gray-hair who has been using them since '84). I'm still involved with the group here responsible for district Mac management who no longer have hands-on access to endpoint systems. I am usually just a lurker here who likes to keep in touch with what's going on in the higher-ed InfoSec world. Thanks, Ric Ric Getter PCC Media Production/PCC-TV Portland Community College - Sylvania 971-722-8036********** Replies to EDUCAUSE Community Group emails are sent to the entire community list. If you want to reply only to the person who sent the message, copy and paste their email address and forward the email reply. Additional participation and subscription information can be found at https://www.educause.edu/community
********** Replies to EDUCAUSE Community Group emails are sent to the entire community list. If you want to reply only to the person who sent the message, copy and paste their email address and forward the email reply. Additional participation and subscription information can be found at https://www.educause.edu/community
Current thread:
- Need to restrict admin rights in macOS? Ric Getter (Mar 25)
- Re: [BULK] [SECURITY] Need to restrict admin rights in macOS? Curt Kappenman (Mar 25)
- Re: Need to restrict admin rights in macOS? King, Ronald A. (Mar 25)
- Re: Need to restrict admin rights in macOS? Mercy Lopez (Mar 25)
- <Possible follow-ups>
- Re: Need to restrict admin rights in macOS? Ric Getter (Mar 25)
- Re: Need to restrict admin rights in macOS? Phill Moran (Mar 25)
- Re: Need to restrict admin rights in macOS? Clark Gaylord (Mar 25)
- Re: Need to restrict admin rights in macOS? King, Ronald A. (Mar 26)