Enterprises: 84% would like to use Macs only

[German]Interesting result of a survey of enterprise IT staff conducted by Jamf regarding preferred device usage. More than three-quarters of companies that use Mac and non-Mac devices in parallel consider the Mac to be the more secure device and would like to give preference to this Apple product.

The Covid 19 pandemic has triggered an unprecedented migration of employees to the home office and has challenged companies to ensure endpoint security at all times, even in distributed teams. On the occasion of the Cybersecurity Awareness Month of October, Jamf, provider of Apple device management solutions, asked 1500 IT and information security experts about the current device usage in their company. Among other things, they were asked about the current challenges facing companies and how they assess the topic of endpoint security now and in the future.

Mac usage is on the rise

All participants in the survey anticipate a significant increase in the number of Mac devices in use over the next 12 months:

• 74 percent of organizations with predominantly Mac users say they will increase the number of devices in their organization.
• Similarly, 65 percent of the organizations with predominantly non-Mac users firmly expect to increase the number of Mac devices in their organization.

The desire to use Mac devices is probably particularly high in Germany:

• 97 percent of the companies surveyed, most of which currently do not use Mac devices, would choose Mac if the entire company had to decide on a system.
• Of the currently Mac-dominated companies, 93 percent would opt for Mac devices in the "either-or" question.

That's interesting figures, even if one should keep in mind that the survey was commissioned by a company that is active in the Apple environment.

Monitoring and security maintenance on Mac easier

Among the IT and IT security professionals surveyed, there is a consensus that security maintenance, monitoring and endpoint visibility are easier to manage on the Mac:

• More than three-quarters (77 percent) of all organizations surveyed that use both Mac and non-Mac devices consider the Mac the most secure out-of-the-box device.
• 79 percent of Mac users say that the reputation Macs have for security positively influences their purchase decision.

Organizations that are predominantly non-Mac users also agree, with 57 percent of them stating that the Mac's reputation as a highly secure device positively influenced their purchase decision.

Current challenge for the security of Mac devices

As the adoption of Macs in the enterprise grows, so does the attention to cyber attacks and threats. Half of IT and IT security teams are concerned about containing and resolving security incidents mainly because of unknown threats. Almost all of the organizations surveyed (96 percent) stated that they would prefer to invest in security software in the future. Specifically, the survey participants rank the prevention of data loss, virus protection/next-generation anti-virus and endpoint detection & response among the most important areas.

The respondents also sees the installation of operating system updates and security patches critically, as devices are particularly vulnerable during the time required for updates. Nevertheless, according to the survey, an average of four days elapse between patch release and deployment, and five days for the introduction of larger macOS versions. According to the respondents, the three main reasons for the delay are compatibility tests, compatibility of security tools and internal application compatibility.

The main cyber security concerns include malware, data loss and phishing. In addition, nearly half of IT and IT security teams cite unknown threats as their biggest challenge in containing (47 percent) and resolving (45 percent) a potential security incident. A summary of the key survey findings

• 84 percent of companies that use both Mac and non-Mac devices would choose Mac for their entire workforce if they had to choose one or the other system
• 77 percent of companies that use both Mac and non-Mac devices consider the Mac the most secure out-of-the-box device
• 74 percent of organizations with predominantly Mac users say they will increase the number of devices in their organization over the next 12 months.
• 65 percent of non-Mac users say that they will increase the number of Macs in their organization
• 79 percent of Mac users say that the reputation for Mac security has influenced their purchase decision. 57 percent of companies, the majority of which are non-Mac users, agree with this statement.
• 96 percent of companies want to prioritize spending money on security software in the future.

"Organizations using Macs should choose IT solutions designed specifically for Apple because they are best equipped to deal with the ever-evolving Mac-specific threats. It is also important that these tools support new versions of operating systems on the day they are released. This ensures that teams can immediately test and update their macOS fleets," said Patrick Wardle, senior security researcher at Jamf. The full report is available for free download.

About the survey methodology

On behalf of Jamf, the market research company Vanson Bourne surveyed 1500 IT and IT security employees from companies in Germany (300), France (300), Great Britain (300), USA (500) and Canada (500). 750 of the companies use predominantly Mac devices and the same number use predominantly non-Mac devices. Survey period was August 2020.