Kandji announces new Device Harmony platform to streamline Mac IT and infosec operations

Bradley Chambers | Oct 3 2022 - 10:00 am PT

After launching in 2019, to help organizations manage their Apple fleet, Kandji went to work on solving additional problems. Today, Kandji announced its new Device Harmony platform, which is aimed at bridging the gap between enterprise IT and InfoSec teams, so they can truly work together to keep every Apple user secure and productive.

“Historically, IT and InfoSec teams pursued their mandates independently — InfoSec secured the company and its users, while IT made sure all the technology worked,” said Adam Pettit, Founder and CEO of Kandji. “But today, IT and InfoSec teams must work together to keep their company and users both secure and productive. To win now, these teams need shared data and systems.”

Kandji’s Device Harmony platform enables IT and InfoSec capabilities that were previously not available within the Kandji platform: Device Management, Vulnerability Management, Endpoint Detection and Response, Endpoint Visibility, and Endpoint Compliance. The new platform provides the intelligence, automation, and workflow needed to support IT and infosec teams working cross-functionally.

“With Device Harmony, these teams can unlock a comprehensive view of every endpoint and create a shared reality between IT and InfoSec, so they can recognize and remediate risks within a single platform, reducing the gap between identifying and addressing issues,” continued Pettit. “Now, IT and InfoSec teams can work together to navigate their fleets and take action, while providing users with the most elegant, Apple-native experience possible while maintaining a strong security posture.”

Vulnerability Management

IT and InfoSec need vulnerability intelligence that’s connected to device management so they can remediate issues faster. Device Harmony’s Vulnerability Management capability provides a full view of security vulnerabilities across macOS, the description, history, and severity of each, what software is affected, and the devices on which that software resides. From there, teams can immediately take action to eliminate or mitigate the vulnerability by using Kandji to upgrade apps, block apps, or run scripts to uninstall apps as needed. Instead of taking a periodic scanning-based approach, Kandji uses a lightweight service built into the proprietary Kandji Agent running on the Mac. Kandji leverages Apple’s Endpoint Security framework and listens for application-related events to determine if new vulnerabilities have been introduced or patched—delivering vulnerability insights in real time.

Endpoint Detection and Response

IT and information security teams must have access to the same data and systems so that threats can be detected and responded to as quickly as possible, without negatively affecting productivity. Device Harmony’s Endpoint Detection and Response offers advanced threat detection for Mac from the moment boots up. The Kandji Agent monitors all files and applications on the Mac in real time, providing a detailed view of events detected. From there, the Kandji Agent terminates malicious processes and quarantines any files involved in them.

Kandji’s approach combines both pre-execution and post-execution methods to create a solution that can capture almost all types of malware. It reduces the risk of the malware executing and security software being unable to stop it in time or at all. Post-execution methodologies detect threats without needing to see malware beforehand. They are based on what typical actions the malicious code takes while executing.

All of Kandji’s Device Harmony functionality, including Endpoint Detection and Response, Device Management, and Vulnerability Management, will be deployed through the proprietary Kandji Agent. The Kandji Agent is designed to be right at on on macOS as its built, built with Swift. Kandji’s Device Harmony platform leverages Apple technologies that are available exclusively to mobile device management (MDM) solutions, ensuring that Kandji Agents can be installed and active at all times.

Vulnerability Management and Endpoint Detection and Response are currently available to a select group of preview customers. General availability will be made available to all customers in the coming weeks. In early 2023, Device Harmony will release Endpoint Visibility and Endpoint Compliance.