Software

42Gears enables kiosk mode on Linux devices

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January 18, 2021

42Gears has introduced its capability to enable kiosk mode on Linux devices using its mobile device management solution, SureMDM, according to a press release. 42Gears SureMDM can manage, monitor and secure Linux, Android, iOS, iPadOS and Windows devices from a single pane of glass.

Although Linux already had a kernel lockdown feature that prevented developers from modifying the kernel in any way, businesses still needed a mechanism that could help them convert Linux devices into dedicated purpose tools if required. However, MDM solutions capable of locking down Android, iOS, iPad OS, and Windows devices lacked the capability to lockdown Linux devices. Businesses using Linux devices along with devices based on other operating systems had to use two separate platforms to enable kiosk mode on their enterprise devices.

"It's both effort- and cost-intensive for businesses to use a different solution to enable kiosk mode on Linux devices. This is the problem Linux Profiles addresses — it helps businesses restrict user access to approved apps and settings only using SureMDM, which is already capable of enabling kiosk mode on non-Linux devices," Prakash Gupta, CTO and co-founder of 42Gears, said in the release. "This naturally means that businesses will no longer need two different solutions to manage Linux as well as other platforms. This will certainly have a positive impact on the total cost of ownership, while easing device management even further."

Apart from enabling kiosk mode on Linux devices, Linux Profiles can also help businesses in:

• User management: IT admins can add or remove users, grant or revoke admin access and allow users to access machines during specific windows of time.
• Wi-Fi configuration: It is now possible for IT admins to remotely configure Linux devices with wireless network credentials.
• System settings: This feature will allow IT admins to remotely control peripherals, install or update packages and modify settings for Wi-Fi, Clipboard and more.
• URL blocking: IT admins can now block access to specific URLs on remote machines.