Management of Native Encryption on Mac shows FIPS disabled

[markgarza]

Hi, we use MNE to report on encryption status for Mac mobile devices. We have not been using it to enforce encryption since we can never seem to get it to work, so we manually encrypt the machine with Filevault and install MNE in a report only mode.

I am noticing as I've had to reload a couple machines that they are reporting to EPO as FIPS mode being disabled. In the past, when I've turned on Filevault manually and installed MNE to report on status, FIPS mode is shown as enabled. There is nothing different between my process for turning on Filevault now than there was before, just the manual way through the Security and Privacy settings on the Mac, but now a few machines have been reloaded and FIPS is shown as disabled. 

I am not aware of any particular steps or options within the Filevault encrypting process that allows me to "choose" FIPS mode, and Macs that have existed in EPO and have not been reloaded still show their FIPS mode as enabled. 

Where does MNE get this FIPS information from on the Mac? Does anyone know of a way to "enable" FIPS mode on a Mac so MNE can report it as enabled?

[avinashraghu]

Hello Mark,

Sorry to hear that Filevault is not getting activated with MNE. May i know what is the error message?

MNE checks the client systems for FIPS certification and reports whether the client systems are running in FIPS mode or not. For this to happen, 

-Make sure that the OS is running in FIPS mode. For Mac systems, install the FIPS Administration tools (http://support.apple.com/kb/HT5396).

-Send an agent wake-up call.

MNE will automatically report the FIPS status back to McAfee ePO.

NOTE: For Mountain Lion 10.8.4 or above Mac systems, the FIPS status is reported automatically to McAfee ePO by MNE, and the user does not have to install the FIPS Administration tools.

Also in MNE policy-> Security Posture Report Settings policy, check the status of Security posture reporting.

Thank you,

Avinash Raghunathan

Data Protection