They Can Now Detect Your Jailbroken iPhone with Absolute Manage 5.4

As of today, April 4, 2011, Absolute Manage 5.4 by Absolute Software Corporation is generally available with new features like App Store Volume Purchase Program (ASVPP) management, geolocation, Active Directory Integration and, most importantly, detection / reporting of jailbroken devices.

Absolute Software Corporation touts itself as the leading provider of software and services that manage and secure computers and phones to reduce IT costs, prove regulatory compliance, respond to computer theft, and ultimately optimize productivity.

The company today announced Absolute Manage 5.4, a tool that allows IT administrators to efficiently manage all their assets by automating time-consuming IT processes.

Admins may want to handle software distribution, patch management, asset inventory and imaging for both their Macs and PCs.

Absolute Manage enables that by providing a single, unified console to achieve the best results, Absolute Software Corporation said.

The tool effectively helps save money by allowing organizations to track installed applications and licenses, redeploy under-used licenses and hardware to maximize inventory utilization, and even avoid getting fined, should users carry out non-compliance activities, like jailbreaking.

Absolute Manage has a few iOS 4-specifics, such as the ability to manage apps, collect asset inventory and security data, as well as conduct change and configuration management.

"The continued growth in adoption of Apple iOS4 devices is driven both by employees wanting to use their preferred device to access the corporate network, and IT departments sanctioning the use of non-PC devices,” said Peter Frankl, vice president, lifecycle management at Absolute Software.

“The growing challenge for IT administrators is to establish effective security and management solutions at the endpoint, while avoiding major disruptions to established server and network architectures,” Frankl added.

"With the release of Absolute Manage 5.4, our customers have even more flexibility in managing their iOS4 deployments, while maintaining enterprise-caliber security, in either a Windows or Mac network and server environment," Frankl concluded.

As noted above, the release of Absolute Manage 5.4 brings along some new features, one of which is “Detection/Reporting of Jail-broken Devices.”

Absolute refers to these units as “compromised devices” in what is a clear indication that the company regards such practices as nefarious.

The ‘jailbroken’ state of a device is reportedly provided within the full device logging session, meaning that all details are displayed at once, including the fact that someone hacked their unit, should it be the case.

This enables administrators “to take remedial actions to protect network security, or ban the compromised device,” the folks at Absolute explain..

The tool is available through Absolute Software, here.