MDM & Laptop Security Question

[SFJon]

Hi, I'm casually overseeing a fleet of about 16 laptops for a small business. We've recently suffered 2 thefts (laptops stolen out of locked cars) so I'm using this an excuse to finally set up some global policies via Profile Manager on our server. I'm starting with just the simple stuff (minimum password length, maximum login tries before wiping data, auto-lock times, etc). One question that popped up is what happens in that situation if someone steals a laptop - can the put it into target disk mode? Is the only way to prevent putting a stolen laptop into target disk mode to use FileValut?

 

[yey365]

MDM Laptop Security

You could use a firmware password to prevent the mac from being booted in to Target mode: http://www.cultofmac.com/262215/make-mac-even-secure-firmware-password-os-x-tips/

This can be bypassed by physically removing the ssd/hard drive and mounting it on another mac though, which FileVault would prevent.

 

[960design]

MDM profile locked, icloud activated and something like preyproject.com may help.

 

[jahala]

My laptop uses file vault in Mavericks, which requires a password for the machine to boot or be started in target disk mode. Even if you remove physically remove the drive, its contents are still encrypted, but the drive could be wiped and reused.