Chrome ADMX templates, Firefox ADMX templates and Group Policy Object (GPO) provided by Microsoft provide a way for IT admins to control and enforce browser policies on employees' browsers. Browsers are today's key tool to get work done anytime, anywhere. It has become an ubiquitous tool that businesses can't work without. Browser vendors today provide users with controls to most aspects of the browsers like browser configurations like autofill, third-party cookie management, save or delete browser history etc. Apart from these, browser vendors also provide security configurations to keep browser-based attacks at bay. Configurations such as phishing filter, password management, certificate verification, when configured centrally and deployed to computers in an organization, can protect the organization from web-based attacks. This can be achieved by making use of GPO provided by Microsoft for Edge and Internet Explorer and ADMX templates for Chrome and Firefox provided by the respective browser vendors.
Group Policy Objects (GPO) provided by Microsoft is a collection of settings that IT admins can configure and deploy to enforce operating IT settings using Active Directory. ADMX templates are provided by application vendors to provide IT admins with controls to configure user and computer settings in his organization, centrally. With these controls, the browser settings can be leveraged to deploy settings to users. With Chrome ADMX template and Firefox ADMX template, IT admins can use GPO to enforce configurations to users' browsers from a central console.
IT admins can redirect traffic from one browser to another with Browser Security Plus' Legacy Browser Support feature. This cannot be achieved with GPO. Using Browser Security Plus as a GPO alternative, IT admins can ensure users' browsing experience while ensuring security.
IT admins will first have to create Group Policy Objects, which is a collection of settings configured as per their requirements. For Google Chrome and Mozilla Firefox IT admins will have to first download Chrome ADMX templates and Firefox ADMX templates and configure them. They will then have to create an Organizational Unit which is basically a container with computers or users, to which the configured GPO is to be deployed. Finally, they will have to deploy the configured GPO to the OU. The problem with this is that the grouping of configurations is complex, making it hard for IT admins to find the configurations they are looking for.
When a GPO is applied to an OU, IT admins can not determine if all the configurations are successfully applied. IT admins will not be able to know when configurations failed to be applied on users/computers in the OU.
When IT admins want to configure a setting that requires website groups to be entered, GPO can be a nightmare. For instance, if a IT admin wants to restrict users from accessing certain websites, GPO has a provision. But it requires him to enter each website manually, one at a time. In case he wants to create different sets of such restrictions for different departments in your organization, or if he wants to apply the same restrictions on to the different browsers, it can be a laborious task.
Browsers are quickly rising as an attack vector with most of cyberattacks being propagated through these inevitable tools. Organizations need to take all possible means to seal these loopholes and controlling browser configurations to maximum security, is the first step. To achieve this IT admins need a tool that can help achieve what GPO can, without the the hassle that comes with GPO. Here's why Browser Security Plus is the best GPO alternative to help IT admins configure browser settings and security policies.
Browser Security Plus provides a consolidation of configurations provided by GPO and ADMX templates in an easy-to-use UI. IT admins need not look for ADMX templates for browsers that are not in-built in GPO. Configurations are grouped in two ways: based on the problems they solve and also the browsers they are applicable for. Unlike configuring GPO, the smart-grouping provided in Browser Security Plus, makes the policy configuration process easy. Once the policy is created, it can be deployed either to individual computers or computer groups.
With Browser Security Plus, IT admins can clearly see the deployment status in real-time. If the deployment of policy failed for one particular computer, it can easily by identified and rectified.
Browser Security Plus provides provision to create website groups. These groups once created can be used in the configuration of multiple policies. For example, if a IT admin wants to restrict users in the finance department from accessing social media websites on Chrome and Firefox, he can simply create a website group once. He can use the same website group to configure a policy and deploy it to the target browsers.
Browser Security Plus is an enterprise solution that can help you manage browser configurations and policies for multiple browsers from a central console. With Browser Security Plus' Browser Customization feature IT admins can deploy policies of their choice with a two click process.
If configuring browser settings with GPO has been making your life a nightmare, try out Browser Security Plus. You can download a free, 30-day trial of Browser Security Plus and enjoy all the features it has to offer.