Background Tasks (DDM status - macOS)
What
FileWave has integrated Apple’s Declarative Device Management (DDM) capabilities to enhance the monitoring of background tasks on macOS devices. This new feature allows administrators to receive detailed reports on the background tasks that are present. The information provided includes the service identifier, the application path (e.g., /Applications/1Password.app), the status of the service (such as enabled or not registered), the type of service (application or login item), the user ID (UID) under which the service is running, and the code signature details.
By leveraging DDM, macOS devices can autonomously report this information without the need for constant server queries. This enhancement improves the visibility of background processes across your device fleet, aiding in compliance, security auditing, and troubleshooting efforts.
When/Why
This feature is particularly useful when there is a need to:
- Audit Background Tasks: Keep track of all background tasks running on macOS devices to ensure they comply with organizational policies.
- Enhance Security Monitoring: Identify unauthorized or malicious background tasks that could pose security risks.
- Troubleshoot Issues: Diagnose problems related to application performance or system stability by analyzing running background tasks.
- Compliance Verification: Ensure that required tasks are running and that unnecessary ones are disabled, aligning with compliance standards.
Why This Feature Matters
Understanding which background tasks are running on your macOS devices is crucial for maintaining a secure and efficient computing environment. Background tasks can have significant impacts on device performance, battery life, and security. Unauthorized tasks might access sensitive data or provide an entry point for threats. By receiving detailed reports on these tasks, administrators can take proactive measures to manage and secure their device fleet effectively.
The integration of DDM enhances this process by allowing devices to report their status autonomously. This reduces the need for frequent server polling, decreases network traffic, and provides up-to-date information without delays.
How
Enabling Background Tasks Reporting
To utilize this feature, ensure that your macOS devices are enrolled in FileWave and running macOS 12 Monterey or later, that DDM is supported on these versions and ensure the FileWave Client is at least v15.5.0.
Accessing Background Tasks Data
Background tasks based on a launch daemon are now reported in Inventory for macOS devices supporting DDM, once the FileWave Client is up to date on a supported version of macOS. The below image shows an example of this inventory data.
