Security restrictions on Mac OS10.6+

[c.mason]

I am looking for 3rd party software to restrict a users ability to save to the local harddrive and mount new volumes among other things. I am trying to stop users from hiding file they should not have like games.

Any suggestions??

[Hopkins Printing]

Hi c.mason,

Perhaps you could configure a Mac OS X user account with parental controls? Looks like there is some functionality for controlling which apps the user account could use.

Best regards,
hp

[c.mason]

I went that route and I can use parental controls to restrict a user from installing apps and using installed apps, but I can't restrict them from writing to the local hdd or mounting a network volume.

[zoran]

I think you have a bigger problem that your employees have time to play games.
On the other hand some companies in modern world actually encourage employees to play the games and blow off some steam that way, it makes employees happy and motivated.

[c.mason]

My employees are all incarcerated. My shop is inside a prison. They have lots of time on their hands (many of them are serving life sentences) and as the influx of work waxes and wanes, they look for ways to occupy themselves. Games are not my biggest concern. I am more concerned about files containing contraband residing on my workstations and my server.

[Shawn]

You'd have to limit write access for network volumes based on logins, but if you want to limit what happens to the boot drive you could use a program like "deep Freeze" to restore the boot drive back to a clean state every reboot. That way any files saved on the drive get wiped away. It's used more for computer labs and public computers but it might work for you as well.

Download Deep Freeze Mac for Mac - Standardize workstations, provides reboot-to-restore safety. MacUpdate.com

Shawn

[minch]

I am looking for 3rd party software to restrict a users ability to save to the local harddrive and mount new volumes among other things. I am trying to stop users from hiding file they should not have like games. Any suggestions??

One solution is to have all workstations boot from a server image. This image is a read only file that your mac workstations boot from and as such cannot be written to except by you the server administrator and then only by making a completely new server image.

All users booting from a server image get a home folder - just like on a regular mac - but you control how much space they have.

You can also block any service, application, peripheral; use e.g. internal or external hard disc including USB etc.

Finally only give each user a small amount of space to save anything e.g. one kilobyte would render their storage capability useless.

As the workstation has to boot from the server you need to prevent physical access to the server or the brighter inmates will set up multiple boot images.