A recent review by The University of Arkansas System Internal IT Auditors to assess university policies and practices has identified a security issue involving campus Mac devices, specifically that they are not connected to the UA Little Rock network domain. Due to the State of Arkansas’ mandate for the entire UA system to comply with security processes and procedures, it is necessary to connect all Mac devices to the domain. This ensures they are properly updated and that the required antivirus software is running on them. All PC devices have already been attached to the campus network domain and are configured accordingly.
At the beginning of October, IT Services began notifying employees who currently use a UA Little Rock Mac device that a technician will be contacting them to schedule time to implement these changes on their device.
The following process impacts all UA System Mac devices:
- Removal of administrator permissions
- Configuration of all devices to have standardized domain naming
- Joining all current and future Macs to the University’s domain
- Installation of Microsoft Defender antivirus on all Mac devices
- Enabling file encryption on all Mac devices
These new changes are required by the State of Arkansas’ mandate for the UA System for compliance with security processes and procedures. This project to achieve overall campus compliance will be completed over the next several months.
