The University is taking action to reduce cyber risk. Part of this work involves getting visibility at a University level to assess the risk posed by unaddressed vulnerabilities. Tanium is the University's choice of tool for this project.
This page summarises information provided by the UIS for members of the department generally, and Group IT Reps in particular.
What data does Tanium collect?
Tanium collects data about the software installed on systems, how up-to-date the system is so that any patching required can be identified and actioned, and some configuration data including checks for encryption levels. Data collected is in line with the University IT Privacy Notice. Neither the UIS nor the Department IT team uses Tanium to collect information about individual usage patterns, user activity or browser history.
Which machines should have Tanium installed?
Tanium should be installed on devices that are owned and governed by University members in an official capacity. Tanium is not currently in use for College-owned devices or personally-owned devices.
Do I have to install Tanium myself or will the IT team do it?
Machines managed by the Department IT team will have Tanium installed through the normal software installation process: you should notice no change and won't be required to do anything.
Machines which are managed by a Research Group or otherwise not managed by the IT team (such as laptops bought on grants) must have Tanium installed by the administrator of each machine.
How do I get hold of a copy of Tanium? Can I download it?
To get best value from Tanium, clients should be installed with particular configuration indicating that they're part a particular Research Group. The IT team can put together installers for Windows, Mac and Linux with this configuration ready to go to reduce the effort required by Group IT Reps and others responsible for machines. Because the configuration varies, there isn't a single package to download: drop support@ch.cam.ac.uk an email and we'll give you a link to the installer for your Research Group or, if it's easier, put the installers on a USB key.
What are the system requirements for Tanium? What if I have machines incapable of running it?
The UIS recommended minimum specification to run the Tanium agent is:
CPU cores: 2
RAM: 2.5 GB
Available disk space: 3 GB
This recommendation is slightly higher than that listed in the Tanium documentation and is based on its use at UIS. Tanium is available for a wide variety of operating systems.
If you have a machine which cannot run Tanium, please get in contact with support@ch.cam.ac.uk so we know not to expect reports from that machine and can request an exemption from the UIS.
When does this all have to be completed?
The deadline for installing Tanium (or obtaining exemptions from doing so from the UIS) is April 2026. However, this same deadline also applied to ensuring that all machines are securely configured: Tanium can provide useful information about what needs to be done so the IT team recommends starting sooner rather than later.
