Jamf launches native AI governance controls for Mac in ANZ

Jamf has launched AI Governance for Mac in Australia and New Zealand, targeting organisations that manage fleets of Apple devices.

Available within Jamf for Mac, the feature is designed to help IT and security teams identify AI tools in use across managed Macs, apply policy controls, and generate reports for audit and compliance. It supports both approved and unapproved AI applications running on endpoints.

Jamf said the launch makes it the first supplier in the two markets to offer native AI governance controls for Mac at the operating system level. It argued that many existing security and monitoring tools rely on network or cloud visibility and do not provide a complete view of AI software running locally on Apple devices.

At launch, the product supports Claude Code, Claude Desktop, and OpenAI Codex. It also includes controls for model access, tenancy settings, network permissions, file system access, and restrictions on MCP servers, along with other tool-specific configurations.

According to Jamf, the system tracks supported AI platforms for changes in controls and policy settings. Policies can be applied before a user first logs into an AI agent and remain in place offline, helping organisations establish a baseline on managed Macs from the start.

Mac focus

Jamf's case rests on the growing use of AI tools directly on Apple Silicon devices rather than solely through web services. The shift creates challenges for organisations trying to monitor developer tools, background agents, and other software that may not be fully visible through proxies or cloud security products.

Jamf said its approach uses its existing telemetry agent to surface AI applications, agents, and large language model runtimes across a Mac fleet, including command-line tools. Customers do not need to deploy an additional agent to use the service.

IT teams can define which AI tools are approved and apply different access policies to different groups of staff. The product also offers an executive AI posture report intended to give senior technology and security leaders a snapshot of AI usage across the organisation, with compatibility for SIEM systems.

"AI adoption across the enterprise is moving faster than existing technology policies can keep up," said Beth Tschida, Chief Executive Officer, Jamf.

"Organisations need governance that matches the way AI tools actually operate on Mac. This means visibility into what's running, policy controls enforced directly on the endpoint, and reporting that helps security teams demonstrate compliance. Our AI Governance capability delivers that natively from the same platform customers already trust to manage and secure Apple devices," said Tschida.

Partner links

Jamf is also linking the new service to third-party identity and cloud systems. Through an integration with Okta for AI Agents, organisations can register AI agents discovered on macOS devices so they receive managed identities and limited access to approved resources.

In this setup, Jamf governs which MCP servers can run on a device, while Okta controls which cloud resources those servers can access. Jamf said the arrangement replaces long-lived static keys with short-lived vaulted credentials and records actions from endpoint to cloud.

Customers can also direct AI traffic through approved agent-building platforms such as Amazon Bedrock AgentCore. The broader pitch is that endpoint policy and identity controls together give organisations a clearer record of which agents ran on which Macs, what they were allowed to access, and what actions they took.

"While some enterprise AI agents run locally, they access data across a vast cloud ecosystem, requiring coordinated security between the endpoint and identity layers," said Harish Peri, Senior Vice President and General Manager of AI Security, Okta.

"By anchoring Okta for AI Agents to Jamf's endpoint enforcement, every agentic connection on a managed Mac is authenticated, authorised, and fully visible from the device to the data. Together, we're helping organisations become secure agentic enterprises by giving them more control over what AI agents can access and on whose behalf," said Peri.

Governance pressure

Jamf linked the launch to rising concern among companies over AI oversight as staff adopt AI software in everyday work. The company cited findings from its own survey showing organisations with deeply integrated AI were 40% more likely to report an incident than businesses still at an exploratory stage.

It also pointed to Gartner forecasts that put spending on AI governance at USD $492 million in 2026 and above USD $1 billion by 2030. Gartner said cybersecurity leaders should identify both sanctioned and unsanctioned AI agents, enforce controls, and develop incident response plans.

According to Jamf, Eventbrite has already used the new feature. Sam Lalli, Security Engineering & SOC Manager, Eventbrite, said the company was looking for a way to let teams use AI tools while maintaining oversight across its Mac fleet.

"Like many organisations, we want to enable teams to use AI tools productively while maintaining appropriate governance and oversight," said Sam Lalli, Security Engineering & SOC Manager, Eventbrite.

"What impressed us about Jamf's AI Governance was how quickly we could apply policy across our Mac fleet without adding another point solution or creating friction for developers. Having this critical capability built into the same device management platform we already use really simplifies AI governance for our team," said Lalli.

Jamf said it works with more than 78,000 organisations across 100 countries and is used to manage and secure more than 35 million devices.