Granting macOS Privacy Approvals for LanSchool Using an MDM

Overview

For student devices running macOS Mojave (10.14) and later Apple introduced new privacy protection systems that must be configured correctly for LanSchool to work. It can be challenging to configure settings correctly so that all installed software works as it should. Because it is impractical to visit each computer to make these approvals, Apple extended its Mobile Device Management (MDM) system to allow remote configuration of many of these approvals.

The macOS privacy approvals necessary to enable full functionality for the LanSchool Student can be configured using a Mobile Device Management (MDM) server. The LanSchool Student application requires four approvals in order to allow all functionality.

Most MDM systems allow importing .mobileconfig template files in order to deploy policies to devices. For the best experience, download this pre-configured privacy policy template provided by LanSchool and deploy it to your devices: LanSchoolClassicStudentPolicy.mobileconfig. 

Alternatively, follow the instructions below to manually create a policy.

The Screen Recording Approval cannot be automated. It must be enabled manually on the student device.

Table 1. LanSchool Student approvals 

Approval Name	Approval Description
Accessibility	During Remote Control, allows:  Keystroke recording and alerting  Keyboard and mouse input blocking
Automation	Allows LanSchool students to:  Automate Safari, which e nables teacher control of Safari during web limiting.  Automate Finder, which allows the teacher to Clear Desktop (closes all windows on the desktop). Clear Desktop can ease transition from one class to another.
Microphone	Allowing LanSchool student to use the microphone permits a:  Teacher to talk to a student  Student to talk to the rest of the class   Microphone access cannot be configured with MDM. On the student computer, run:  /Applications/  <LanSchool Student>  Follow the wizard prompts.
Full Disk Access	LanSchool students need access to Safari files for teachers to determine and record student browser history. Teachers can access Firefox history files without granting full disk access permission.
Screen Recording	Only required for macOS Catalina (10.15) and later, the screen recording approval is necessary to allow LanSchool Student to share the student's screen with the teacher. This approval cannot be configured using an MDM server and must be enabled manually on each student device.

Procedure

The following instructions use SimpleMDM (  https://simplemdm.com/ ) as an example MDM provider to configure LanSchool Student. Other MDM provider interfaces may look slightly different but have similar features.

 

Enter information exactly as it is shown. This is especially important for code requirements. 

Two applications make up LanSchool Student: LanSchool (lsutil.app) and LanSchool Student (student.app). Follow the steps below to configure them.

1. In the MDM provider interface, navigate to where profiles can be created. Select the option that creates a profile to configure privacy preferences.
   
   
   
2. Select Permissions.
   
3. For the LanSchool application (lsutil.app), enter the settings shown in Tables 2-3 and highlighted in the screen shot below them:
   
1. Select bundle ID as the identifier type.
   
2. Create an app identity for the application bundle ID com.lanschool.lsutil. A bundle ID typically should identify each application.
   
3. Enter anchor trusted for the code requirement. Apple uses the code requirement to verify that it has cryptographically signed applications, and that applications have not been altered or tampered with.
   
1. In the Access Permissions section, set  Accessibility to  Allow.
   
   
   

   Table 2: Identifying information for lsutil.app
   

   Identifier	Setting
   Identifier type	bundleID
   Identifier	com.lanschool.lsutil
   Code requirement	anchor trusted

   
   Table 3: Access permissions  for lsutil.app

   Name	Setting
   Accessibility	Allow

   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
4. Select  Save.
   
5. Select  Permissions.
   
6. For the LanSchool application (student.app), enter the settings shown in Tables 4-6 and highlighted in the screen shot below them. Settings that are not listed do not need to be changed.
   
   1. Select bundle ID as the identifier type.
      
   2. Create an app identity for the application bundle ID com.lanschool.student.
      
   3. Enter anchor trusted for the code requirement.
      
   4. In the Access Permissions section, set the following to  Allow:
      
      • Accessibility
        
      • Post event
        
      • Access all files
        
   5. Create two Apple event targets, one for Finder and another for Safari, using the settings shown in Table 7. These settings allow LanSchool Student to send messages to Finder and Safari.
      

      Table 4. Identifying information for student.app 
      

      Name	Setting
      Identifier Type	bundleID
      Identifier	com.lanschool.student
      Code requirement	anchor trusted

      
      

      Table 5. Access permissions for student.app
      

      Name	Setting
      Accessibility	Allow
      Post event	Allow
      Access all files	Allow

      
      

      Table 6. Apple event targets for student.app
      

      Name	Identifier	Code Requirement	Access
      bundle ID	com.apple.finder	Identifier "com.apple.finder" and anchor apple	Allow
      bundle ID	com.apple.Safari	Identifier "com.apple.Safari" and anchor apple	Allow

   
   
   

7. Select Save.
   
8. When you have created the profile, use an MDM provider to send the profile to all computers that are running or will run LanSchool Student. You are done!
   

You can also use your MDM server to configure settings for the LanSchool Teacher and Student. See Managing LanSchool Settings with an MDM

Browser Extension Profiles for macOS 11.0 (Big Sur)

Apple’s latest operating system macOS 11.0 (Big Sur) prevents 3rd party software from installing Profiles on the system.  

Mobile Device Management (MDM) has the ability to install profiles, but anyone else who previously installed them to configure application settings will no longer be able to do so in macOS 11.0.

LanSchool Classic for many years has installed profiles to specify Chrome, and now Edge Browser settings, specifically so that our browser extensions are installed and cannot be removed.  

​

For Big Sur and greater, we recommend adding our Chrome and Edge policies to your MDM settings for those browsers:

Chrome:

ExtensionInstallForcelist:

honjcnefekfnompampcpmcdadibmjhlk;https://clients2.google.com/service/update2/crx 

In XML this would look like this:

1. <key>ExtensionInstallForcelist</key>
   
2. <array>
   
3. <string>honjcnefekfnompampcpmcdadibmjhlk;https://clients2.google.com/service/update2/crx</string>
   
4. </array>

Edge:  

ExtensionInstallForcelist:

hbonijggfojboimdmhilgnikbkeodiha;https://edge.microsoft.com/extensionwebstorebase/v1/crx

In XML this would like like this:

1. <key>ExtensionInstallForcelist</key>
   
2. <array>
   
3. <string>hbonijggfojboimdmhilgnikbkeodiha;https://edge.microsoft.com/extensionwebstorebase/v1/crx</string>
   
4.  </array>

Our Edge policies also configure two other settings in the browser that you may find desirable in an education setting:

1.Disable Developer Tools.  These tools can be used to subvert extensions and other things.

1. <dict>
   
2.    <key>DeveloperToolsAvailability</key>
   
3.    <integer>0</integer>
   
4. </dict>

2. Disable Private Browsing.   Our extension cannot record private browsing in any reliable way.

1. <dict>
   
2.   <key>InPrivateModeAvailability</key>
   
3.   <integer>1</integer>
   
4. </dict>
   

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