AppLocker has been part of Windows for years, but configuring and maintaining rules manually can be time-consuming and error-prone. Tanium Enforce addresses this challenge by centralizing policy creation, auditing, and enforcement. This makes it easier to apply Microsoft’s recommended defaults, refine rules based on real-world data, and report on compliance across your environment.
Instead of relying on static Group Policy, Enforce gives IT teams the flexibility to test policies in audit mode before enforcing them, which reduces the chance of unintended consequences and improves operational efficiency.
Watch the full video to see Rob’s walkthrough of AppLocker in Tanium Enforce, learn best practices for rule configuration, and discover how to integrate audit insights into enforcement workflows without disrupting business processes.
Key takeaways
- Why AppLocker matters: AppLocker lets you control what can and cannot run on Windows devices, improving compliance and reducing risk from unauthorized apps.
- Two modes for flexibility: Policies can run in audit mode (records what would happen without enforcement) or enforce mode (actively applies blocking rules). This lets administrators validate and adjust configurations before enforcement, minimizing disruption.
“It’s [like] testing safely in production… Being able to roll this in a non-intrusive way is really helpful.”Rob Broughall
- Iterative policy management: Clone existing AppLocker policies, test changes in audit mode, and promote them to enforcement without rebuilding rules to streamline updates and reduce risk during rollout.
- Smart rule configuration: Combine path, hash, and publisher-based rules for precision. Use Microsoft’s recommended defaults as a starting point and refine based on audit results.
“Where we add value is making [policy management] easier, as well as then reporting on it… Being able to bring that data back at scale is really powerful.”Rob Broughall
- Managing non-standard installs: Handle apps that install in user profiles (like Microsoft OneDrive and Teams) by using publisher-based rules to permit trusted software without broad allowances.
“You can say wherever you find a Microsoft Teams executable that’s been published by Microsoft… that’s okay, you can run that.”Rob Broughall
- Visibility through sensors and Connect: Tanium surfaces AppLocker events clearly and can forward data to SIEM or other systems for monitoring and alerting.
- Defense in depth: Blocking unauthorized executables adds another layer of protection against phishing and zero-day attacks.
- Supports existing policies: Import existing AppLocker policies in XML format into Tanium and manage them centrally, reducing complexity for organizations with multiple Active Directory domains.