If you missed the popular webinar with Group Policy Guy and Microsoft Group Policy MVP, Darren Mar-Elia and Viewfinity on Windows 7 Security and Managing UAC Prompts, then you can catch the recording here.

Have you used the same password more than once at your workplace? If you answered yes, then you are definitely not alone and should continue reading.

In a recent security breach at Dropbox as reported by Richard Adhikari of TechNewsWorld, hackers found their way into Dropbox  by trying stolen passwords from other sites on Dropbox and were successful in compromising many accounts including that of an employee.  Dropbox says “reused passwords are to blame for a wave of spam that's hitting subscribers to the service.”  The company’s response to the security breach was to introduce two-factor password authentication.

Is Password Management the solution? 

The reality is this issue cannot be solved through password management alone. The problem is not Dropbox, the problem is that a policy of password-only security is outdated.  You can change passwords frequently, you can use software that will intelligently look at suspicious behavior, etc., but the only way to confirm a person’s identity is to add biometric facial recognition. For example, in the EU they’re not using their passport they are looking at the camera and the camera authorizes their entry.   

A camera for facial recognition plus passwords will solve 99% of the problems. Cameras are very prevalent on today’s desktop PCs and laptops so it is fairly easy to do. Today’s facial recognition technology is very advanced so even less sophisticated software would be enough. It’s a small database storage investment for an excellent solution.

SC Magazine Australia, one of the information security industry's leading news and product evaluation sources, gave the Viewfinity Privilege Management solution a 5-star rating (five out of five stars) in the 2012 Risk and Policy Management category. 

Peter Stephenson of SC Magazine Australia said “Overall, we find this product to be a good value for the money due to its comprehensive feature set and ease of management and automation abilities.”

Have a look, the article is online here

The analysts and IT community at large are starting to spread awareness about the importance of protecting endpoints running Windows XP after the April 2014 support sunset date.  This is a smart move.

A fundamental safeguard to preventing security attacks is to remove administrative privileges from the desktop creating a least privileges environment to secure endpoints.  Organizations that run Windows XP today, and who will continue to run PCs on Windows XP, need to re-assess their position on allowing users to have local administrator rights.  Removing administrator privileges from endpoints is a fundamental safeguard that is vital to every IT infrastructure, including those running Vista and Windows 7.  This equates to less vulnerability to hackers, malware, and costly security breaches.

Viewfinity plays an important role in offering a level of endpoint protection for companies that will still run the Windows XP OS after April 8, 2014.  Let me know if you’d like us to contact you and discuss how to approach the process of removing administrator rights and managing privileges for users that will need elevated permissions. 

Viewfinity automatically detects privilege elevation needs based on actual user activity and creates policies based on similar user needs -- this significantly reduces the number of policies to be managed. Watch the video to see the discovery feature in action.

Darren Mar-Elia, Group Policy MVP and GPOGuy.com, is Viewfinity's guest speaker on “Windows 7 Security and Managing UAC Prompts.”  This webinar will explore Windows 7 migrations and the removal of local administrative rights as part of this desktop refresh.  Topics to be discuss include desktop lockdown, use of Windows 7 built-in security features, and management of UAC prompts. 

The webinar takes place on Tuesday July 31, 2012 at 2pm EDT.  Darren Mar-Elia will discuss the components of the Windows built-in security features and the best practices surrounding these features. Darren will also introduce additional methods for enhancing endpoint security within Windows 7 as related to managing UAC dialog boxes and applications that require administrator rights. 

Register for the webinar here.

Microsoft offers various sources to learn more about its partner products.  More information related to how Viewfinity complements and supports Microsoft Configuration Manager and Windows Endpoints and Servers can be found on Microsoft’s Pinpoint directory and Microsoft’s System Center Alliance Solution Guide.

The Microsoft Pinpoint directory is a unique place for business customers to research the right technology solution for their company and also is a place for developers and technology service providers to find the right technology solutions for their customers.  Here you can read and submit reviews about Viewfinity and learn more about Viewfinity Privilege Management.

The Microsoft System Center Alliance Solution Guide allows you to learn more about its partners’ solutions and respective compatibility with Microsoft System Center components.  The solution guide comes in three phone apps which can be downloaded from the site.

Join us for a webinar on July 26th featuring Viewfinity and PolicyPak Founder, Jeremy Moskowitz, on Granular Endpoint Protection via Application Control.

In this joint webinar, Viewfinity and Jeremy Moskowitz will demonstrate how to best protect your endpoints with true desktop and application lockdown, and manage the lockdown environment so that user productivity is not impacted.

Sign-up below!

Thursday, July 26, 2012 at 2 pm ET

In a recent Viewfinity survey for which more than 600 IT security professionals responded, a major vulnerability was uncovered: 2/3 of companies don’t know who has local administrator rights.  The infographic below describes the findings:

"Admin rights" can be used by malware to install malicious software on local computers through the administrator account. Further penetration into the IT environment is then accessible through this vulnerability allowing other security threats to enter a corporate network. 

Don’t get caught off-guard - download Viewfinity’s complimentary Local Admin Discovery Tool.  This free tool allows you to discover user accounts and groups that are members of the local “Administrators” built-in user group on computers in your Windows domain.  Once the analysis has been run, IT Administrators can take action by removing the users or suspicious groups from the Administrators group.

If you are looking for competent expertise to manage administrator rights on your desktops, then look no further than Viewfinity.  Viewfinity repeated the highest achievable Microsoft Partner Certifications, earning Gold and Silver competencies as an independent software vendor (ISV). Along with these competencies, Viewfinity achieved outstanding results in the required Gold certification Customer Satisfaction Survey (CSAT), earning well above Microsoft Partner averages in all categories, including 100 percent ratings in "Satisfied" and "Likely to Recommend" loyalty categories. 

What do these Microsoft competencies mean for your business?

This means your business will receive outstanding service and expert guidance when it comes to managing administrator rights because Viewfinity has been able to demonstrate best-in-class expertise within Microsoft’s marketplace and the highest level of expertise with Microsoft technologies, along with service readiness, capacity, and scalability expected of a trusted software provider. 

Contact info@viewfinity.com to start your path on getting sound expertise on managing administrator rights today!