Manageengine Application Control License
Based on predefined control rules, Application Control Plus automates the placement of applications in whitelists and blacklists. By allowing only authorized access to applications and the privileges associated with them, Application Control Plus enhances its built-in, sophisticated Endpoint Privilege Management feature, enabling organizations to establish the principle of least privilege (PoLP) and Zero Trust.

Application Control Plus is a complete enterprise security solution that combines privilege management and application control features. By assisting in the instant identification and classification of authorized and unauthorized applications, it enables enterprises to obtain a comprehensive understanding of their network. Application Control Plus minimizes an enterprise’s attack surface by ensuring only authorized access takes place through application-level privileged management, dynamic, rule-based whitelisting, and blacklisting.
Applying application whitelisting to threat prevention.
Users now rely on applications for even the most basic tasks thanks to ongoing technological advancements and the minute-by-minute creation of new applications by both large and small vendors. Vendors frequently rely on open source code to build their applications due to the rise in demand and lack of time. By introducing their own backdoors into open source code, attackers have begun to take advantage of this development in order to quickly launch malware or steal data.
Enterprises need to be cautious to make sure that any applications they allow on their network can’t be used against them. You can have total control by establishing application whitelists. The whitelisting process is condensed into a small number of steps by the licensed ManageEngine Application Control Plus, a complete application whitelisting solution.
Application Whitelisting: What is it?
The process of compiling a list of dependable applications and allowing only those to run on managed devices is known as application whitelisting. The idea of allowing only the things you trust shouldn’t be taken lightly because applications are frequently the entry point for cyberattacks, which can result in significant monetary losses or massive data leakage.
Why is whitelisting for applications important?
Malware defense is only one use for application whitelisting. Inventory management is streamlined by creating application whitelists. Even if an application doesn’t fit a user’s role, most enterprises typically give all users access to it. Users in these situations find that their devices are running a number of unused applications. These programs not only take up space on your hard drive, but they also take up time to manage licenses and patches.
All of these problems are resolved by application whitelisting, which enables users to use only particular applications in accordance with their roles and job requirements.
Application Control Plus whitelisting instructions
Traditional application whitelisting involves the hassle of list management, so businesses typically steer clear of it and choose antivirus programs instead to stop malware intrusions through applications. All of these rules are broken by the licensed Application Control Plus’ self-updating Application whitelisting feature. This licensed solution`s application whitelisting adopts a proactive approach to addressing these vulnerabilities, unlike typical antivirus software, giving you the best chance to withstand an attack.

The following is how Application Control Plus aids in the development of an application whitelist:
Application detection
The first step in any application control process is to determine which applications are installed on the network. Application Control Plus agents scan each endpoint and provide a list of applications installed on it and details of all their executables.
Application bundling
The licensed Application Control Plus application whitelisting software automatically creates and updates the whitelist based on detected applications’ compliance with your selected policies. The following policies can be configured:
Dependable suppliers
If the software vendors use open source software, trusting them without valid certificates may result in backdoor attacks. Therefore, you will only see listings for authorized software vendors. Only programs from the vendors you pick will be added to the whitelist as a result.
Name of the item.
Instead of using the trusted vendor rule, this kind of policy can be chosen if you want to whitelist specific products from the same vendor.
Verifiable executables
Vendors assign a digital certificate to each executable to guarantee its authenticity. Applications are composed of numerous executable files. You can choose the EXE files to be whitelisted from the list of these verified executable files that Application Control Plus displays to you. A file will not be permitted to execute if its digital certificate has been compromised, making this policy essential for maintaining a secure network. Without being whitelisted, even EXEs that are added to applications as updates won’t be permitted to run.
Data hash
The fact that this policy is based on the executable file’s hash value makes it the most secure. You will see a list of all executable files for currently active processes, including those without a working digital certificate. Any change to a file, even a small one like a version revision, will cause its hash value to change, which will cause the file to be immediately removed from the application whitelist. You can select all the files you want to whitelist. If you want to only execute very specific executables, this policy is ideal.

Connecting applications
Applications are typically similar for users in the same role. According to their needs, you can assign applications to individual users, or you can create custom user groups and link them to application whitelists created with their requirements in mind by using the appropriate policies. You can link various application whitelists to the same custom group and vice versa using the application whitelisting feature of this licensed solution.