macOS 11 and DLP Agent support information

Data Loss Prevention Endpoint Prevent

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12 November 2020

14 July 2020

Update November 11, 2020:
The public release date of macOS 11 is November 12, 2020. Symantec plans to complete testing of the macOS 11 public release with the new DLP Agent in four weeks.
If there are no significant compatibility issues encountered during testing, the expected release date for Data Loss Prevention 15.7 MP2 is in mid-December 2020.

 

Apple has announced that macOS 11 (Big Sur) will be released in the Fall of 2020. Prior to the general release, there will be developer and beta releases of the new operating system. 

macOS 11 introduces a major change affecting the DLP Agent. Kernel extensions (KEXT) are being replaced by system extensions. The DLP Agent through Symantec Data Loss Prevention 15.7 MP1 relies extensively on KEXT for many agent features. To support macOS 11, the DLP Agent is being re-architected to switch from KEXT to system extensions. 

The DLP Agent re-architecture will be provided in the 15.7 MP2 release in the Fall, when macOS 11 is available. Prior to that release, Symantec will provide information about compatibility and testing results based on testing macOS beta releases with the new DLP Agent in development. 

More information about the DLP Agent re-architecture and testing results can be found in the macOS compatibility and testing topic in the Symantec Data Loss Prevention help at the Tech Docs Portal.

The product advisory here will also be updated to indicate when new testing results and information is available in the Data Loss Prevention help topic. 

Update August 6, 2020:

Symantec has completed testing macOS 11 Developer Beta 3 with the rearchitected DLP Agent (in development). Aside from the system extensions changes that are already known, Symantec has not encountered other changes that could adversely impact the DLP Agent.
Going forward, Symantec will continue testing with new beta releases when they are released, and will continue to rebuild the macOS agent to support system extensions with the upcoming  release.
Additional updates will be published here if there are significant testing results of beta versions of macOS 11 interoperability with the rearchitected DLP Agent to share with Data Loss Prevention Endpoint customers.
 
Update August 26, 2020:
 
Symantec has completed testing macOS 11 Developer Beta 5 with the rearchitected DLP Agent (in development).
Developer Beta 5 does not include certain third-party libraries that are required for the DLP Agent service to start. Symantec is investigating alternatives to resolve this issue.
 
Update September 11, 2020:

Symantec has resolved the issue caused by the removal of certain third-party libraries in Developer Beta 5 and Public Beta 2 and has begun testing with Public Beta 3.

Update October 15, 2020:
 
Symantec has completed testing macOS 11 Public Beta 9 with the rearchitected DLP Agent (in development). Symantec is modifying the new add-in based Microsoft Outlook monitoring solution to conform to the truststore security changes in Public Beta 9. In addition, the new agent has been validated by DLP customers that participated in a limited Beta testing program.
 
Symantec is waiting for the release of the macOS 11 Golden Master build, after which qualification testing will be completed within four weeks. Following qualification, Symantec Data Loss Prevention 15.7 Maintenance Pack 2 will be released.