人工智能 (AI) 已迅速從實驗性項目，轉變為 IT 策略的核心組成部分。大多數組織不是已經在使用 AI，就是正在積極規劃大規模部署。這場巨大的轉變，要求 IT 團隊必須緊急重新思考如何管理基礎設施、保護身份和確保敏感數據的安全。
快速採用帶來了顯著的風險。AI 系統會與關鍵基礎設施互動、處理機密資訊，甚至可能自主執行決策。如果缺乏健全的治理，這將導致安全漏洞和重大的合規性問題。您現在制定的政策，將決定 AI 成為組織的競爭優勢或昂貴的負債。
核心任務：治理 AI 以防範「影子 AI」
大多數 IT 領導者深切關注 AI 採用失控的風險，許多組織擔心未經審查的整合和合規性暴露。良好的治理是解決之道。清晰的政策確立了 AI 可用於何處、誰必須批准新工具，以及如何監控其使用情況。
影子 AI 的風險
政策對於防止 「影子 AI」（Shadow AI） 至關重要，即團隊在沒有 IT 監督的情況下部署未經批准的工具。這種缺乏可見性的情況，會瞬間打開數據洩漏和智慧財產權暴露的大門。主動治理可確保減少意外發生，並為關鍵系統提供更好的保護。
五項核心 AI 治理政策
為了安全地向前邁進，IT 領導者必須在以下五個領域定義規則：
1. 正式的整合審查與批准： 每個新的 AI 整合都必須遵循由 IT 安全或架構團隊主導的正式審查流程。這項政策確保在工具上線 之前，必須完成強制性的安全掃描、數據流審查和合規性驗證。
2. 機器身份與存取管理 (IAM)： AI 工具依賴服務帳號和機器人，但這些通常管理不善。政策必須要求實施強大的 IAM 實踐，包括將服務帳號的權限限制在最低需求，並要求定期輪換 API 金鑰和憑證。
3. 嚴格的數據治理與分類： AI 模型的可靠性取決於其輸入數據的品質。政策必須強制執行數據分類（例如：公開、機密），並要求敏感數據在用於 AI 訓練或推理之前，必須經過加密、清洗和驗證。這能確保系統可靠並隨時準備好進行稽核。
4. 監控與事件回應框架： 可見性是關鍵。政策必須定義哪些 AI 相關事件（身份活動、整合、數據存取）將被記錄，哪些安全閾值會觸發警報，以及 AI 相關事件應如何被升級和調查。
5. 變更管理與文件紀錄： 每個已部署的 AI 工具或整合都需要詳細的書面紀錄。政策必須強制要求對工具的目的、風險評估和數據來源進行徹底的文件紀錄，並記錄所有後續的變更和更新。這有助於簡化稽核並防止未經授權的部署。
引領 AI 採用的下一步
AI 是現代 IT 中不可逆轉的一部分。目標不再是阻止其使用，而是以一種安全、可擴展且符合業務目標的方式進行治理。透過現在就制定明確的政策——正式批准整合、仔細管理機器身份、保護數據、監控活動和記錄每次變更——您的團隊就能獲得安全使用 AI 所需的控制權。
儘早採取行動：實施這些治理步驟，以避免後續產生高昂的安全和合規性問題。
要深入了解像您這樣的組織如何採用和保護 AI，請下載 JumpCloud 最新的 IT 趨勢特別報告。
關於 JumpCloud
在 JumpCloud，我們的使命是建立一個世界級的雲端目錄。我們不僅是將 Active Directory 演進至雲端，更是重新定義現代 IT 團隊的工作方式。JumpCloud 目錄平台是一個統一的目錄，旨在管理您的用戶、其 IT 資源、您的裝置群組，以及它們之間的安全連線，並提供全面的控制、安全性和可視性。
關於 Version 2 Digital 資安解決方案 專業代理商與領導者 台灣二版 ( Version 2 ) 是亞洲其中一間最有活力的 IT 公司，多年來深耕資訊科技領域，致力於提供與時俱進的資安解決方案 ( 如EDR、NDR、漏洞管理 )，工具型產品 ( 如遠端控制、網頁過濾 ) 及資安威脅偵測應 變服務服務 ( MDR ) 等，透過龐大銷售點、經銷商及合作伙伴，提供廣被市場讚賞的產品及客製化、在地化的專業服務。
台灣二版 ( Version 2 ) 的銷售範圍包括台灣、香港、中國內地、新加坡、澳門等地區，客戶涵 蓋各產業，包括全球 1000 大跨國企業、上市公司、公用機構、政府部門、無數成功的中小企業及來自亞 洲各城市的消費市場客戶。
預測性分析：利用 AI 和機器學習來預測硬件故障，或識別可能預示新興安全威脅的模式，讓您在問題導致停機前就加以解決。
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通往可持續成長之路
成長應該是機遇，而不是營運的負擔。從自動化基礎任務到建立一個完全智慧協作的環境，這趟旅程為您提供了一條清晰的路徑，打造一個能與您的業務輕鬆同步擴展的 IT 計劃。這不僅僅是為了解決眼前的問題——而是為了奠定一個為未來做好準備的基礎。
準備好將這些原則付諸行動了嗎？探索 JumpCloud 如何幫助您自動化工作流程、串聯您的 IT 技術堆疊，並為各個成長階段建立穩固的基礎。
關於 JumpCloud
在 JumpCloud，我們的使命是建立一個世界級的雲端目錄。我們不僅是將 Active Directory 演進至雲端，更是重新定義現代 IT 團隊的工作方式。JumpCloud 目錄平台是一個統一的目錄，旨在管理您的用戶、其 IT 資源、您的裝置群組，以及它們之間的安全連線，並提供全面的控制、安全性和可視性。
關於 Version 2 Digital 資安解決方案 專業代理商與領導者 台灣二版 ( Version 2 ) 是亞洲其中一間最有活力的 IT 公司，多年來深耕資訊科技領域，致力於提供與時俱進的資安解決方案 ( 如EDR、NDR、漏洞管理 )，工具型產品 ( 如遠端控制、網頁過濾 ) 及資安威脅偵測應 變服務服務 ( MDR ) 等，透過龐大銷售點、經銷商及合作伙伴，提供廣被市場讚賞的產品及客製化、在地化的專業服務。
台灣二版 ( Version 2 ) 的銷售範圍包括台灣、香港、中國內地、新加坡、澳門等地區，客戶涵 蓋各產業，包括全球 1000 大跨國企業、上市公司、公用機構、政府部門、無數成功的中小企業及來自亞 洲各城市的消費市場客戶。
在 JumpCloud，我們的使命是建立一個世界級的雲端目錄。我們不僅是將 Active Directory 演進至雲端，更是重新定義現代 IT 團隊的工作方式。JumpCloud 目錄平台是一個統一的目錄，旨在管理您的用戶、其 IT 資源、您的裝置群組，以及它們之間的安全連線，並提供全面的控制、安全性和可視性。
關於 Version 2 Digital 資安解決方案 專業代理商與領導者 台灣二版 ( Version 2 ) 是亞洲其中一間最有活力的 IT 公司，多年來深耕資訊科技領域，致力於提供與時俱進的資安解決方案 ( 如EDR、NDR、漏洞管理 )，工具型產品 ( 如遠端控制、網頁過濾 ) 及資安威脅偵測應 變服務服務 ( MDR ) 等，透過龐大銷售點、經銷商及合作伙伴，提供廣被市場讚賞的產品及客製化、在地化的專業服務。
台灣二版 ( Version 2 ) 的銷售範圍包括台灣、香港、中國內地、新加坡、澳門等地區，客戶涵 蓋各產業，包括全球 1000 大跨國企業、上市公司、公用機構、政府部門、無數成功的中小企業及來自亞 洲各城市的消費市場客戶。
October is Cybersecurity Awareness Month, and this year’s theme is See Yourself in Cyber, which focuses on the individual’s role in cybersecurity. While cybersecurity can feel complex and inaccessible to the average person, the reality is that everyone has a role to play in security, from executives to the IT team to end users. This month, the JumpCloud blog will focus on helping you empower everyone in your organization to do their part regarding cybersecurity. Tune in throughout the month for more cybersecurity content written specifically for IT professionals and MSPs.
Many organizations spend quite a bit of time onboarding new employees and making sure they have access to everything they need; however, the same care is often lacking when it comes to offboarding. Whether a long-time employee suddenly leaves on bad terms, a contractor is no longer being utilized for some period of time, or an employee goes on leave, improper offboarding or suspension of that user’s permissions and access poses significant risk for your organization.
Offboarding and deactivating a user’s identity can be a manual and time-consuming process, yet it is also very time-sensitive and sometimes requires IT admins to be available at a moment’s notice. Not every employee gives notice prior to leaving, and unforeseeable events can happen that force admins to scramble at the last minute to deprovision that user’s access to company resources.
This process becomes even more difficult if your organization needs to provide access to IT resources for temporary workers like contractors and interns, or has full-time employees that may need to be temporarily offboarded or have their IT resource access suspended rather than be permanently offboarded due to personal events like marriages, births, family care, overcoming an illness or injury, and more.
Most Companies Struggle With Offboarding
Improperly offboarding employees is a dangerous game to play, yet, according to TechRepublic, 48% of organizations said they are aware that former employees still have access to corporate networks. Further, 20% of organizations say they’ve experienced a data breach that’s linked to former employees.
These stats tell us that improperly offboarded employees are a predominant threat to organizations; however, the tools and resources needed to fix this issue aren’t there. The missing link here could be a lack of time, no simple way to quickly offboard or suspend user access to all IT resources, and/or lack of insight into the security risks posed by inadequate processes. It puts a spotlight on the notion that offboarding is as much a security issue as it is an operational one for IT.
Another important finding from TechRepublic is:
Half of IT leaders said that ex-employees’ accounts remain active for longer than a day after their departure, 32% said it takes a week to deactivate an account, and 20% said it takes a month or more. Another 25% said they don’t know how long accounts remain active once the employee has left the company.
These percentages pose a significant problem for the organizations that fit into these stats. It only takes one angry ex-employee, one ex-employee that’s simply being careless with the handling of their credentials, or one employee on leave that still has active access to make damaging changes in some shared resource, even though they weren’t there for the last best practices discussion.
Case Study: Improper Offboarding and Compliance Violations
Here’s a real world example of how improper offboarding of employees and contractors can lead to considerable compliance violations, substantial fines, and the subsequent loss of public trust.
Pagosa Springs Medical Center (PSMC)
In 2018, Pagosa Springs Medical Center found itself at the epicenter of a major HIPAA violation which ended up costing them $111,400 — all because they did not properly offboard a terminated employee.
After their termination, the former PSMC employee retained remote access to PSMC’s web-based scheduling calendar, which contained patients’ electronic protected health information (ePHI). The investigation revealed that PSMC impermissibly disclosed the ePHI of 557 individuals to this former employee.
HIPAA calls out the need for a formal offboarding process under the security rule section – § 164.308(a)(3)(ii)(C): “Implement procedures for terminating access to electronic protected health information when the employment of a workforce member ends.“
HIPAA is just one standard that can easily be violated due to improper offboarding — there are many others out there with similarly severe consequences for non-compliance.
A Quick Offboarding Checklist
Even at organizations where offboarding is seen as a fairly quick process, i.e. less than a couple of hours, the risk of that ex-employee or another bad actor taking advantage of existing access is still prevalent.
TechRepublic also found that 70% of IT decision makers surveyed said it can take up to an hour to deprovision all of a single former employee’s corporate application accounts. Keep in mind, this does not include revoking an employee’s access to their devices and networks.
To combat this and improve your organization’s security posture, it’s helpful to put steps in place that improve offboarding efficiency. One of these steps should include an offboarding checklist to ensure that no loose ends are left after an employee’s de
parture.
Your offboarding checklist should include deactivation of access to:
All applications
Productivity tools:
Ex. Google Workspace and Slack
CRM tools:
Ex. Salesforce and Zoho
Cloud Infrastructure
File shares
Devices
Corporate Networks
VPN
RADIUS
Or, if WiFi access is not centrally managed, periodically refresh the Corporate WPA2 passphrase
And ensure return of equipment
Questions to Consider When Improving Offboarding Workflows:
Does HR inform you in a timely manner when an employee leaves your organization?
If an employee is terminated or leaves abruptly, are you able to deactivate their identity immediately?
Are you able to suspend the identity for contractors who leave the company and may return?
What about employees on medical leave who may return?
Improving Employee Offboarding
Sticking to an offboarding checklist to ensure all access is revoked is extremely important, but what’s just as important is the process in which everything is deactivated. Not only are manual offboarding processes time-consuming, but they also leave a lot of room for human error.
While working to improve and standardize your entire offboarding workflow, we also recommend that you establish routine communication with HR around onboarding and offboarding, as well as find an identity provider (IdP) to streamline the process.
Establish Routine Communication With HR
If you’re not already in continuous communication with HR regarding employees coming and going, you need to establish a better process between departments. HR should let you know when an employee is scheduled to leave or immediately notify IT when someone leaves abruptly. HR should also inform you in advance when an employee is scheduled to return from leave or their contract is renewed.
Though many project management tools exist to help alert internal stakeholders about new tasks, and some HRIS systems can even directly integrate into your core directory service to fully automate this process, this communication can be quickly achieved by creating an email alias or group with select individuals from HR and IT. Whenever someone across the organization alerts HR of a change in employment, they can CC this email alias to give IT the necessary “heads up” they need to act quickly.
Find the Right Identity Provider
When choosing an identity provider, find one that has the following capabilities:
Allows you to automate deactivation of a user’s identity
Once you set the date/time of deactivation, your IdP should take care of the rest
Lets you easily and quickly revoke access to ALL resources
Deactivating a user’s identity should revoke access to applications, devices, networks, and any other resources that user had access to
Simplifies user activation and reactivation
If an employee returns from leave or a contractor’s contract is renewed, you should be able to quickly and easily reactivate their identity in a just few steps
Includes integration capabilities with common HRIS software
Fixing the communication disconnect between HR and IT and implementing the right identity provider will allow you to securely and efficiently revoke access and re-provision access as needed, through just a few clicks.
JumpCloud’s Offboarding and User Suspension Features
Using JumpCloud® as your primary IdP allows you to quickly deprovision user access to virtually all of their IT resources. Our scheduled suspension features allows you to schedule a date and time for user deactivation which revokes access to applications, devices, networks, and any other IT resource their account has permissions for.
If the user in question will be returning, you can use this capability as a temporary suspension, and the user can later be reactivated; what’s more, they’ll receive updated permissions and access to new or changed resources as determined by their associated user, device, and policy groups automatically once reactivated. If the user in question will not be returning, use this feature to schedule their deactivation and then fully remove their account when appropriate (as dictated by compliance regulations or internal policy).
The JumpCloud scheduled user suspension feature simplifies and automates the deactivation workflow for scheduled permanent offboarding, as well as temporary suspension of contractors, freelancers, and employees on leave. This feature lets you revoke access to all resources, not just corporate applications. All of this works together to improve your overall security posture and ensure that your organization remains compliant with relevant standards.
All of this coupled with the fact that JumpCloud integrates with HR software like Workday and Bamboo, as well as provides API-based integration with other tools, provides a seamless onboarding and offboarding experience for IT admins.
Protect your organization from data breaches and compliance violations
This feature can be found within the JumpCloud Admin Console — find it under User Management > Users. Try it for free for up to 10 users and 10 devices by creating a JumpCloud Free account. Enjoy all of the functionality of the JumpCloud Directory Platform, including scheduled user suspension, and see if JumpCloud is the right IdP for your organization!
Version 2 Digital is one of the most dynamic IT companies in Asia. The company distributes a wide range of IT products across various areas including cyber security, cloud, data protection, end points, infrastructures, system monitoring, storage, networking, business productivity and communication products.
Through an extensive network of channels, point of sales, resellers, and partnership companies, Version 2 offers quality products and services which are highly acclaimed in the market. Its customers cover a wide spectrum which include Global 1000 enterprises, regional listed companies, different vertical industries, public utilities, Government, a vast number of successful SMEs, and consumers in various Asian cities.
About JumpCloud At JumpCloud, our mission is to build a world-class cloud directory. Not just the evolution of Active Directory to the cloud, but a reinvention of how modern IT teams get work done. The JumpCloud Directory Platform is a directory for your users, their IT resources, your fleet of devices, and the secure connections between them with full control, security, and visibility.
Security-minded system administrators prioritize taking all the necessary measures to safeguard confidential and protected data. The compromise of a device can prove costly if it contains sensitive company information, especially when organizations have compliance requirements. Disk encryption is one of the best ways to mitigate this risk.
Encryption is the process of encoding data. Data is converted from plain text to ciphertext using a special mathematical algorithm that renders the data unreadable unless the encryption key is provided. This key should always remain a secret to the person authorized to access the data.
There are two major types of encryption in a computer: Full Disk Encryption (FDE) and File Level Encryption (FLE).
Full Disk Encryption
In full disk encryption, also known as hard drive encryption, the entire hard drive or volume — including all the files — is protected. During booting, a passphrase or secret key is required to unlock the drive before logging in with your user account credentials.
Implementing FDE guarantees data privacy and security for all the files from unauthorized users or anyone with malicious intent. Learn more about the benefits of FDE, and five reasons you should consider requiring it in your organization.
File Level Encryption
As the name infers, file level encryption happens at the file system level. This type of encryption targets individual files and directories, but not the entire hard disk.
Both full disk encryption and file level encryption can be used simultaneously to achieve a higher level of data protection.
In this tutorial, we will focus on how to enable full disk encryption on Ubuntu 22.04 using LUKS.
What Is Linux Unified Key Setup (LUKS)?
LUKS is a standard hard drive encryption technology for major Linux systems including Ubuntu. It is a platform-independent disk encryption specification and the de facto disk encryption standard for Linux systems.
LUKS was originally developed for Linux systems and is used in nearly all Linux distributions. It is also a popular encryption format for network-attached storage (NAS) devices. It encrypts entire block devices, making it an ideal choice for encrypting SSD, hard disk drives, and even removable drives.
In addition to offering FDE, LUKS allows users to create and run encrypted containers with the same level of protection as LUKS full disk encryption.
With LUKS, disk encryption can be enabled during the installation of an operating system. In fact, full disk encryption is only achieved during the installation of the Ubuntu Desktop operating system. It encrypts all the partitions including swap space, system partitions, and every bit of data stored on the block volume with the exception of the Master Boot Record (MBR).
How to Fully Encrypt Data on Ubuntu 22.04
If you already have a running instance of Ubuntu 22.04 and you want to enable full disk encryption, you’re required to reinstall it. You cannot fully encrypt it once it is installed. You can only encrypt directories or partitions post-installation.
If you forget your encryption passphrase, all your data will be inaccessible. As such, it is recommended to pick one that you can easily remember or store on a password vault or manager. Better yet, if you have used a complex password, you can note it down somewhere and keep it under lock and key.
Additionally, before starting this process, be sure to backup any critical data that could potentially be lost during the reinstallation process.
Getting Started
We will skip the few installation steps on Ubuntu 22.04 and head straight to the “Installation Type” step that requires you to select your preferred disk partition mode.
Two options will be presented. The first one (the default option) is “Erase disk and install Ubuntu” which wipes out all the existing data and automatically partitions the drive. The second option is “Something else” which is used to manually configure the disk partitions yourself. Please note that you will not be able to enable full disk encryption by selecting the second option.
Select the first option: “Erase disk and install Ubuntu” and click the “Advanced features” button as indicated.
Once you click the “Advanced features” button, a pop-up appears. Be sure to select “Use LVM with new Ubuntu installation” and the “Encrypt the new Ubuntu installation for security” options.
Then click “OK.”
Next, assuming you have already backed up any important data, click “Install Now.”
Disk encryption requires a security key in order to access your files each time your device boots. In this step, provide a strong security key or passphrase.
You can also enable a recovery key which enables a user to access the encrypted disk if they forget their password, or if the disk needs to be installed on a new device.
Then click “Install Now.”
On the pop-up dialogue that appears, click “Continue” to write changes to the disk.
From here, continue with the installation process until the end, and finally, reboot the system. Provide the security key that you generated and hit ENTER prior to logging in.
The secret key unlocks your drive thereby granting you access to your system.
From here, you can log in to your new Ubuntu installation by providing your user account’s password and pressing ENTER.
Conclusion
In this guide, we walked you through the implementation of full disk encryption using LUKS on Ubuntu 22.04. FDE provides a robust way to safeguard your data in case of theft or accidental loss of your device.
Encryption is just one approach to ensuring the privacy and safety of your data. Therefore, you should not relax enforcing other data protection measures such as firewalls, identity and access management (IAM), and Zero Trust controls such as multi-factor authentication (MFA).
JumpCloud’s open directory platform is available to easily implement full disk encryption throughout your entire fleet. Pre-built policies make it possible to achieve full disk encryption for Windows and macOS devices, with granular control and visibility for BitLocker.
Linux devices can also be managed and monitored for encryption status. To see how this works, along with a number of other device security and management features, sign up today to get started. JumpCloud is free to use for up to 10 users and 10 devices; we also provide 24×7 in-app support for the first 10 days of use.
Version 2 Digital is one of the most dynamic IT companies in Asia. The company distributes a wide range of IT products across various areas including cyber security, cloud, data protection, end points, infrastructures, system monitoring, storage, networking, business productivity and communication products.
Through an extensive network of channels, point of sales, resellers, and partnership companies, Version 2 offers quality products and services which are highly acclaimed in the market. Its customers cover a wide spectrum which include Global 1000 enterprises, regional listed companies, different vertical industries, public utilities, Government, a vast number of successful SMEs, and consumers in various Asian cities.
About JumpCloud At JumpCloud, our mission is to build a world-class cloud directory. Not just the evolution of Active Directory to the cloud, but a reinvention of how modern IT teams get work done. The JumpCloud Directory Platform is a directory for your users, their IT resources, your fleet of devices, and the secure connections between them with full control, security, and visibility.
Can JumpCloud integrate with my organization’s identity source of truth? What about our HRIS solution?
We hear this type of question more and more from small and medium enterprise (SME) IT admins. The question is not surprising, given that the SME segment is the fastest growing segment in the global HR market: SMEs accounted for over 60% of that market share in 2020, according to Verified Market Research.
Being able to answer “yes” when someone asks us whether JumpCloud can integrate with their identity source and HRIS platform is vital — particularly because user identity management now affects both IT and HR. As a shared concern, it is increasingly important to ensure there are efficient, consistent, and, whenever possible, automated identity lifecycle management processes between these two departments, regardless of the HR and IT solutions in place.
With the latest updates to the JumpCloud identity management custom API connector, the answer to “Can JumpCloud integrate with my identity source or HRIS solution?” is increasingly “yes.”
What is the JumpCloud Identity Management Custom API connector?
The JumpCloud custom API connector provides an open and flexible way to integrate JumpCloud with a broad number of identity sources. This includes HRIS, human capital management (HCM), compensation, and benefits platforms, as well as other cloud directories. JumpCloud can integrate with many leading HR solutions, like ADP, BambooHR, and Workday, as well as many other HRIS and non-HRIS solutions.
How Does It Work?
From the JumpCloud Admin Portal, an IT admin completes a configuration template that defines the authentication method, API endpoints, and the attribute mappings needed to create the integration between JumpCloud and the application serving as the identity source. Once that configuration is verified, the integration is activated and available to use to import user identities directly into JumpCloud from the identity source, connecting the HR and IT worlds.
User Identity Lifecycle (Co-)Management
HR and IT have always shared the objective of high employee satisfaction and productivity from onboarding to offboarding. How each department achieved this objective used to be distinct, with minimal overlap of responsibilities and concern.
Now, however, identity management is a collaborative effort between HR and IT. HR assumes the responsibility of creating and keeping the person’s identity current, as well as triggering onboarding and offboarding flows. IT is more focused on assigning and maintaining the appropriate access and permissions throughout the user’s lifecycle. This includes access to all the resources a person needs to be productive during their entire tenure with the organization, as well as deprovisioning the user’s identity and access when they leave.
This shift in responsibilities has created the need for information to flow from an organization’s identity source to JumpCloud. In the past, JumpCloud has offered integrations and automations from JumpCloud to applications. Now, JumpCloud is using the same types of integrations and automations to transmit information from identity sources to JumpCloud. This allows JumpCloud to act as a pass-through of the user identity information.
However, many of these identity sources do not have integrations to JumpCloud. Without an integration, both IT and HR must perform multiple manual, insecure, error-prone processes. These processes have the potential to negatively impact employees’ ability to do their jobs and create security vulnerabilities.
To fill this gap, JumpCloud offers several options for integrating with these identity sources in the JumpCloud Admin Portal. The solutions range from specific integrations built by JumpCloud (such as Personio, Workday, Google Workspace, and M365) to open solutions: the custom SCIM connector and the custom API connector. All of these options support employee onboarding (joiners).
In addition, we have added support for keeping a user’s profile in-sync as changes are made in the identity source (movers) and for deprovisioning identities when a user’s status is set to inactive in the identity source (leavers).
With each addition to our open and flexible integration options, our answer to the question of whether JumpCloud integrates with an organization’s chosen identity source gets closer and closer to a universal “yes.”
Explore the Integration Options
To explore JumpCloud’s available integration options, go to the JumpCloud Admin Portal and navigate to Directory Integrations > HR Directories > +. If you don’t have a JumpCloud account, you can try it for free for up to 10 users and 10 devices by creating a JumpCloud Free account. Sign up to explore how JumpCloud enables you to make work happen — from anywhere, on any device, and with the platforms you choose. Make Work Happen™ on your terms.
Version 2 Digital is one of the most dynamic IT companies in Asia. The company distributes a wide range of IT products across various areas including cyber security, cloud, data protection, end points, infrastructures, system monitoring, storage, networking, business productivity and communication products.
Through an extensive network of channels, point of sales, resellers, and partnership companies, Version 2 offers quality products and services which are highly acclaimed in the market. Its customers cover a wide spectrum which include Global 1000 enterprises, regional listed companies, different vertical industries, public utilities, Government, a vast number of successful SMEs, and consumers in various Asian cities.
About JumpCloud At JumpCloud, our mission is to build a world-class cloud directory. Not just the evolution of Active Directory to the cloud, but a reinvention of how modern IT teams get work done. The JumpCloud Directory Platform is a directory for your users, their IT resources, your fleet of devices, and the secure connections between them with full control, security, and visibility.
There is no doubt about it — remote work is here to stay.
Managing, securing, and updating Apple device fleets has never been more pivotal to thwart potential security breaches. Mobile device management (MDM) solutions simplify remote management while providing peace of mind that essential data is kept safe.
Right now, organizations in industries across the board are cutting costs in response to the current economic climate. Are you a budget-conscious admin looking for “free Apple MDM” guidance? If so, keep reading to learn more about what to look for when evaluating platforms.
The Apple MDM Landscape
Choosing the right MDM vendor has become a crucial task since 2020. That’s when Apple released macOS Big Sur, which introduced several changes for end users and IT admins overseeing enterprise environments.
Proceeding this change, it wasn’t uncommon for small-to-medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) to leave Apple device maintenance in the hands of end users. Though several industries have embraced the vendor in recent years, Apple products still make up a small (but growing) percentage of the average organization’s device portfolio.
Of course, this left organizations vulnerable as most enterprise end users are not IT experts! Furthermore, they’re unlikely to prioritize organizational security over their daily tasks.
Today, Apple continues to add security patches that require coordination with official Apple MDM vendors. Of course, Apple’s commitment to privacy doesn’t stop there — Apple wants enterprise end users to know what their employers do and don’t have access to from their devices too!
Translation: Organizations must practice transparency, even with corporate-controlled devices. Admins can no longer rely on manual management of their Macs or third-party vendors that don’t use Apple’s native MDM protocols or APIs.
Free Apple MDMs: Are They Really Free?
Free MDM and open source MDM platforms do exist.
Review site Capterra lists 42 mobile device management software entries, in fact. But will these options cover the functionality you need? In most cases, the answer is no.
Open source MDMs and free MDM plans can often get the job done for extremely small businesses. But most SMEs require varying paid plans to meet more sophisticated security compliance requirements.
Most of the “free” Apple MDM plans you will find have device limits and/or time limits. In addition, they often require admins to manually install updates, troubleshoot connectivity issues, and/or manage on-prem infrastructure. Furthermore, each provider puts its unique spin on MDM APIs.
For these reasons, it’s crucial to clarify your requirements before investing time and energy into setting up a free Apple MDM solution. Let’s take a look at some key elements worth considering when weighing your options.
5 Essential Apple MDM Assessment Factors
It’s unlikely that most free or open source MDM solutions will check all of your boxes. You’ll need to decide which features are absolutely essential for your organization and which ones you can live without. Below are four core factors to consider before choosing a free Apple MDM:
1. Cross-Platform Support
Select a free vendor that only works with Apple products, and you’ll need to configure a different solution for Windows and Linux devices. Multiple solutions will require engaging in duplicate work, implementing multiple deployment processes, and staying up to date on different technologies. Translation: it can be a real pain in the tuchus!
If you manage a heterogeneous environment, prioritize device management technology that is cross-platform, multi-protocol, provider-agnostic, and location-independent. Ultimately, your MDM tool shouldn’t limit your choice of compatible vendor technology down the road either.
2. Security Compliance Functionality
Do you have remote workers using your servers? Following MDM best practices will require using platform features such as remote wipe, lock, restart, shutdown, mandatory password strength, multi-factor authentication (MFA), and more.
Consider if the free Apple MDM or open source solution will streamline the most common types of IT compliance regulations and standards: PCI, CCPA, HIPAA, SOX, SOC 2, and ISO 27001. While smaller businesses may not have many requirements, companies dealing with credit card transactions must cooperate with ISO 27001 standards. Furthermore, though SOC 2 isn’t a requirement it’s quickly becoming an industry standard for proving robust security practices.
Quick deployment and activation is essential for any admin expecting to meet evolving compliance instructions. In addition, look for streamlined reporting capabilities that make it easy to procure requested audit information at a moment’s notice.
3. Remote Configuration and Enrollment
Another factor to consider is how you currently deploy devices for new employees working from home. The best Apple MDM solutions allow admins to ship Apple devices straight to employees — ready to go out of the box. With zero-touch enrollment, the new employee simply follows the prompts on the screen for automatic enrollment and policy configuration. That means you can predetermine exactly what apps, resources, and data the employee will have access to ahead of time. If you’re looking for ways to take back your time, prioritize these features in your MDM search.
Young business people working in modern co-working space office using digital devices
4. Software Deployment and Patching
Software deployment on macOS comes in two flavors: App Store apps and non-App Store apps. Apps sold through the Mac App Store can be purchased through Apple Business Manager and then installed remotely via an MDM solution with no action required by the end user.
Alternatively, non-App Store apps must be packaged up and installed manually. Many paid MDMs will offer an “App catalog” with popular enterprise apps prepackaged and ready to install. If a free solution doesn’t offer this service, consider the time it will take to package up your apps manually.
And, as any experienced admin will tell you, never sleep on patch management! Failing to install security and performance updates is like turning away free food. So, when evaluating free Apple MDM solutions, take a close look at the patch management UX.
5. User Management
As previously mentioned, user management for Apple devices has become more complicated with the evolution of macOS. For example, the recent shift to SecureTokens as a way of ensuring trust caused plenty of challenges for IT admins.
Thus, it’s crucial to understand how your new MDM will work with your directory services. Here are some questions worth asking yourself how easy is it to:
Connect the MDM and directory service together to automate user management or will I need two separate solutions?
Control who can access which devices, networks, and applications?
Manage FileVault, which is intimately tied to the user and their profile?
Manage access to employee Macs remotely?
The integration of system and user management is extremely valuable for organizations planning to scale. In summary, choose the right solution from the start as it can be costly to switch after employee devices are already onboarded.
JumpCloud: The Best Free Apple MDM Solution
If you’re looking for greater integration between MDM and identity management, look no further than JumpCloud — the all-in-one MDM solution. Are we incredibly biased? Absolutely.
But the reality is there simply isn’t anything like it on the market. With JumpCloud you can manage Apple, Windows, and Linux devices from one frictionless location. The user portal allows admins to configure devices around user identities, wipe and lock devices, automate patch updates, and configure zero-touch enrollment quickly and easily.
In addition, users have the option of combining JumpCloud MDM with valuable security elements like SSO, MFA, full-disk encryption, cloud LDAP, and RADIUS.
MDM capabilities for 10 users and 10 devices forever.
10 days of premium 24×7 in-app chat support.
Full platform functionality (including software management, Zero Trust, etc.).
When you’re ready to scale, JumpCloud’s a la carte MDM plan starts at $5 per user/per device monthly. Below are some of the benefit from using JumpCloud:
Benefits of Using JumpCloud MDM
Seamless Cross-System Management
An IT admin’s credo is to secure their employee devices and, in doing so, protect company data and resources. Those devices could be Windows laptops, Linux servers, or Apple devices. JumpCloud, as an Apple-certified MDM vendor, offers seamless macOS MDM capabilities at no extra charge for companies on JumpCloud’s Free and Pro plans.
Convenient Security Controls
Security is something that can’t be sacrificed, even when it’s business as usual. Today, when teams are working from any corner of the globe, it’s even more critical that IT admins feel empowered to protect end users and enterprise devices regardless of location.
Once a JumpCloud-managed system is enrolled in Apple’s MDM, these commands equip admins with the ability to secure a user’s Mac in the event it’s lost or stolen. In addition, admins can remotely execute tasks like installing software, updating patches, and ensuring backups via JumpCloud’s command execution capabilities.
Easy Enrollment
Enroll macOS machines in bulk with a few clicks via JumpCloud’s macOS MDM enrollment policy. When applying the enrollment policy, admins have the option of checking a box that removes existing non-JumpCloud MDM enrollment profiles and automatically unenrolls devices from their previous MDM.
You can also use the policy to enroll new machines quickly. For DEP-enrolled machines, go through your Apple Business/School Manager platform and switch the association of their serial numbers to the new MDM server.
Version 2 Digital is one of the most dynamic IT companies in Asia. The company distributes a wide range of IT products across various areas including cyber security, cloud, data protection, end points, infrastructures, system monitoring, storage, networking, business productivity and communication products.
Through an extensive network of channels, point of sales, resellers, and partnership companies, Version 2 offers quality products and services which are highly acclaimed in the market. Its customers cover a wide spectrum which include Global 1000 enterprises, regional listed companies, different vertical industries, public utilities, Government, a vast number of successful SMEs, and consumers in various Asian cities.
About JumpCloud At JumpCloud, our mission is to build a world-class cloud directory. Not just the evolution of Active Directory to the cloud, but a reinvention of how modern IT teams get work done. The JumpCloud Directory Platform is a directory for your users, their IT resources, your fleet of devices, and the secure connections between them with full control, security, and visibility.
Passwords are the bane of user and admin existence.
Keeping track of hundreds of passwords is tough, and employees inevitably forget them. When that happens, they’re frustrated that they can’t access the tools they need to do their job, and IT teams waste their precious time on lock-out tickets.
To circumvent this aggravating process, many employees create simple passwords or reuse them, which threatens their employer’s security and puts customer data at risk.
Many IT teams try to mitigate these issues by implementing single sign-on (SSO) or a password manager. But using just one or the other can still put a burden on IT and leave the company vulnerable to breaches.
What organizations really need is a unified approach to access that will enforce password health while allowing IT to control all target systems and support multiple authentication types. But is that even possible?
Below we’ll review why unmanaged passwords are so risky, describe the pitfalls of standalone SSO, and explain what a new world could look like when SSO and a password manager are implemented together.
The Dangers of Unmanaged Passwords
Unmanaged passwords are often a key component of cyberattacks, which are only getting more prevalent as employees have to remember more and more passwords to complete their day-to-day work. For example, Verizon’s 2022 Data Breach Investigations Report found that stolen login credentials were associated with half of all data breaches — a 30% increase from 2017.
But password management is expensive even without a breach. The average password reset can cost companies $70. When extrapolated to an entire organization, that adds up quickly.
While IT can send regular reminders to update passwords and educate employees on what makes a strong password, that’s not enough to mitigate risks. And those practices don’t reduce strain on IT either.
A password manager can reduce the chances of a breach and decrease pressure on IT by:
Rotating passwords – to ensure people are updating their passwords frequently
Syncing across operating systems and devices – to prevent as many lockouts as possible
While password managers certainly help, they still force employees to login into every application individually and, ideally, require additional layers of authentication to protect a user’s master password.
Resource Access With and Without SSO
Single sign-on, or SSO, is related to password management because it grants access to multiple applications after users provide one set of login credentials.
Without SSO, users still must remember and type in a username and password for every application they want to connect to. In that situation, you run the risk of employees sharing passwords, keeping sticky notes with their passwords on them, reusing passwords for several different applications, or creating passwords that are extremely easy to guess.
As discussed above, these habits can cause devastating financial and reputational damage. SSO and other Identity-as-a-Service platforms lessen the chances of a breach and decrease IT load by:
But SSO doesn’t solve everything — it doesn’t generate passwords, enforce password policies, or rotate passwords like a password manager can.
Benefits of a Password Manager + SSO
Combining the benefits of a password manager and SSO gives you the best of both worlds.
Users no longer have to create hundreds of complex passwords and worry about forgetting them. With a password manager and SSO, you can meet password-based access needs while imposing new authentication practices, including federation and multi-factor authentication (MFA). Adding more security best practices increases the protection of valuable IP and sensitive customer data.
The best joint password manager and SSO solutions store passwords locally on endpoints, making it tougher for hackers to get the data they want. In addition, some come with a relay infrastructure, allowing users to share passwords via end-to-end encrypted communication.
Ultimately, users get access to sites and services quickly, while IT admins can monitor and enforce password health on the back end without slogging through a slew of password reset tickets.
Secure Single Sign-On and Password Management With JumpCloud
The fact of the matter is that no one SSO or password management solution is going to safeguard your company from attacks and dramatically reduce IT’s workload. To truly accomplish those two objectives, you need to unify your tech stack and consolidate your IT tooling. Luckily, that’s what you get with the JumpCloud Directory Platform, which combines SSO and password management into a cloud-based directory.
With JumpCloud’s robust yet easy-to-use platform, IT can lay the foundation for unified access across all users, systems, and authentication types, including MFA. JumpCloud also has a newly released password manager, and its open directory infrastructure streamlines the login process for your employees. IT staff also benefit from having more time and budget to focus on strategic initiatives.
Version 2 Digital is one of the most dynamic IT companies in Asia. The company distributes a wide range of IT products across various areas including cyber security, cloud, data protection, end points, infrastructures, system monitoring, storage, networking, business productivity and communication products.
Through an extensive network of channels, point of sales, resellers, and partnership companies, Version 2 offers quality products and services which are highly acclaimed in the market. Its customers cover a wide spectrum which include Global 1000 enterprises, regional listed companies, different vertical industries, public utilities, Government, a vast number of successful SMEs, and consumers in various Asian cities.
About JumpCloud At JumpCloud, our mission is to build a world-class cloud directory. Not just the evolution of Active Directory to the cloud, but a reinvention of how modern IT teams get work done. The JumpCloud Directory Platform is a directory for your users, their IT resources, your fleet of devices, and the secure connections between them with full control, security, and visibility.
As businesses continue returning to the office, more and more MSPs are being pressed to ensure that employees are able to return with minimal pain. Wi-Fi connectivity is often the very first issue that users will run into in a new office setting, so MSPs are finding that they must revisit how they handle the security of the wireless networks that they manage.
Common Wi-Fi Security Vulnerabilities
It’s very likely that your customers have their Wi-Fi set up with a guest network for visitors to use and a pre-shared key that employees are given on the first day of their employment. However, this authentication method is only marginally better than having no password at all and is very dangerous if the Wi-Fi provides access to domain-associated resources.
Addressing Connection Concerns
Being that your customers’ Wi-Fi keys are likely older than COVID-19, there has never been a better time to switch to a tried and tested solution: RADIUS. With RADIUS configured, network authentication takes place against a directory that has been configured to allow a user’s existing login credentials (username and password) to grant and revoke access to network resources.
RADIUS adds a much needed layer of security between users and a Wi-Fi network, while also bringing added convenience to your customers’ wireless networks. While RADIUS comes with a plethora of benefits, implementation can feel intimidating — but, it doesn’t have to be!
Using JumpCloud’s Cloud RADIUS Feature
In order to set up RADIUS for a client, you will need a directory to use as the source of truth for user authentication, and JumpCloud has the perfect solution for you. Here at JumpCloud, we leverage our powerful open directory platform to offer a high-quality, easy-to-use Cloud RADIUS solution that our customers love, giving them cloud-directory-fueled authentication and MFA to keep their networks secure and efficient.
Utilizing the Full Functionality of JumpCloud Alone
In addition to its Cloud RADIUS feature, implementing JumpCloud’sopen directory platform opens the door to a variety of other important features such as SSO, MDM, software deployment, and policies to help manage your users and endpoints.
In effect, with JumpCloud, you will not only be able to address your clients’ immediate network security and user experience needs, but you’ll also be able to position your services in a new way. You’ll be able to offer current and potential customers a more forward-facing and expansive service using all of JumpCloud’s capabilities — including helping clients consolidate their technology stack or adding much needed features into their IT infrastructure.
Now, I know what you’re thinking: “That’s great, but I am not in a position to migrate directory services. I simply want to deploy RADIUS to improve Wi-Fi and VPN authentication, and I already have customers using Azure Active Directory (AAD).”
Well, I have some good news for you: you can leverage your existing Azure AD environments in harmony with JumpCloud thanks to our new feature: RADIUS Authentication with Azure AD Credentials.
Using JumpCloud’s RADIUS Feature With Azure AD
Surprisingly (or maybe ironically?) enough, the implementation of RADIUS with Azure AD is reliant upon on-prem resources, with physical servers needing to be allocated to perform the required tasks. JumpCloud is a strong proponent of equipping MSPs and IT professionals with world-class tools to get their jobs done effectively, which means we focus on creating solutions for problems like this.
This means that we’ve made it so you can leverage JumpCloud’s Cloud RADIUS feature while maintaining Azure AD as the source of truth for your directory needs, effectively giving you the best of both worlds, with no on-prem setup necessary. This means that your customers can enjoy secure networks while improving ease of access to networks among their credentialed employees. On that same note, what this means for you, is that you now have a cloud-based RADIUS solution that can be implemented for any of your customers without gutting their existing directories.
Getting Started With Cloud RADIUS
Here are some guides to help you begin launching Cloud RADIUS across your MSP business and your clients’ orgs.
Check out some of the benefits that JumpCloud’s RADIUS solution will give to your clients:
Improved user experience that only requires a single, unique password to connect to networks and resources to get work done both in the office and remotely via a VPN.
Streamlined user onboarding and offboarding due to the activation or deactivation of a single set of secure credentials compared to many different usernames and passwords.
Fewer help desk tickets related to the pain associated with changing a PSK (pre-shared key) for a Wi-Fi network.
Simplified compliance that’s easier to prove by getting rid of a shared network password that anyone can get ahold of.
Easier network access for your techs. They’ll no longer be scrambling to figure out Wi-Fi passwords when performing site visits (this will also drastically lower the chance of a tech needing to huddle to one corner of a closet to get the single bar of LTE signal available for their hotspot to connect to your documentation service to find the Wi-Fi password. Definitely not speaking from personal experience. Sidenote: Why did they stop putting a network port on laptops?).
Ultimately, the largest benefit of having Cloud RADIUS from JumpCloud implemented is that you now have a solution that can be easily replicated across your entire customer base. Whether you’re working with a company that has never touched a directory service before (which JumpCloud can easily help with), or a customer that has been holding onto that 12 year-old server for dear life, JumpCloud is here to help you modernize your customers’ infrastructure.
With Cloud RADIUS, your service offerings around network management can fully revolve around a single authentication standard, your hardware vendor of choice, and a unified support approach that will delight your customers.
JumpCloud for MSPs
At JumpCloud, we are serious about setting MSPs up for success when working with in-office, hybrid, and fully remote clients. To do this, we have developed a dedicated platform for MSPs, called JumpCloud for MSPs.
JumpCloud for MSPs is an open directory platform that enables our partners to centralize identity, authentication, access, and device management capabilities under one umbrella without having to tear and replace any existing infrastructure.
About Version 2 Digital
Version 2 Digital is one of the most dynamic IT companies in Asia. The company distributes a wide range of IT products across various areas including cyber security, cloud, data protection, end points, infrastructures, system monitoring, storage, networking, business productivity and communication products.
Through an extensive network of channels, point of sales, resellers, and partnership companies, Version 2 offers quality products and services which are highly acclaimed in the market. Its customers cover a wide spectrum which include Global 1000 enterprises, regional listed companies, different vertical industries, public utilities, Government, a vast number of successful SMEs, and consumers in various Asian cities.
About JumpCloud At JumpCloud, our mission is to build a world-class cloud directory. Not just the evolution of Active Directory to the cloud, but a reinvention of how modern IT teams get work done. The JumpCloud Directory Platform is a directory for your users, their IT resources, your fleet of devices, and the secure connections between them with full control, security, and visibility.
