MW. Résumé / CV

Practitioner reference

Securing Claude Cowork: controls, gaps and safer defaults

Version 1.4, evidence cut 23 September 2026.

A reference for administrators on what the Claude Cowork admin console, device policy (MDM) and third-party deployments on Bedrock, Vertex and Foundry actually control, where they fall short, and which defaults to change first.

Cowork runs inside the Claude Desktop client alongside Chat and Claude Code. The controls that govern it are split between the admin console, managed device configuration and, for third-party inference, the cloud provider. The cheat sheet puts those controls in one place and flags the gaps.

What it covers

  • How Cowork fits into Claude Desktop, and how first-party and third-party (Claude Desktop on 3P) configurations differ
  • Defaults that should be changed before rollout
  • Computer use, which has no administrative control on any plan
  • Controls missing from first-party configuration
  • Egress controls, and where the in-app allowlist stops being enough
  • The boundary between administrative and personal settings
  • Session visibility and the Compliance API
  • Sandbox escape and the choice between cloud and local execution

65 references, freshness-scanned against Anthropic's documentation as at 23 September 2026. Anthropic ships changes often, so check anything time-sensitive against the current documentation.

More projects