Chapter 6 outlines the options that are available when Active Directory (AD) Group Policy Objects (GPOs) are used to deploy Viewfinity privilege policies.  A GPO based deployment is a simple and straightforward way to enable a number of privilege management capabilities. This chapter will highlight those capabilities and compare and contrast a Viewfinity server-based solution to help an organization determine which deployment method is most appropriate for their specific requirements.

Download the eBook chapters here.

Below is a reposting of Network World’s article on survey results conducted by ESG on security professionals working at U.S. based enterprise organizations.  Security professionals were asked if APTS had caused their organizations to purchase and deploy new information security technologies and about 40% are doing so.

What's interesting is the types of investments they are making in order to protect sensitive data. For example:

* 54% of organizations that purchased new tools as a result of APTs are investing in data encryption technologies
* 43% of organizations that purchased new tools as a result of APTs are investing in database security technologies
* 35% of organizations that purchased new tools as a result of APTs are investing in DLP
* 31% of organizations that purchased new tools as a result of APTs are investing in new types of user authentication or access controls

Since the ultimate goal of APT attacks is data exfiltration, bolstering data security controls makes sense. A few other observations here:

1. I've been anticipating a steep increase in data encryption for a while and I think this is finally happening. Henceforth, data will increasingly be encrypted at the network, storage, file system, database, and application layer. Managing all of this encryption and associated certificate and key management is the next challenge.

2. Database security is often ignored but it seems like APTs have become a wake-up call. IBM tells me that its database security services and products (aka Guardium) are selling well. McAfee bought Sentrigo to take advantage of this trend. With continued growth in this area, Application Security, Inc. should be the next vendor to be gobbled up by a big guy like Check Point, HP, or Symantec.

3. Both McAfee and Symantec tell me that their DLP business is also red hot. RSA just made an announcement in this area as well. Likely that APTs along with the rise of mobile computing will continue to keep DLP sales momentum going.

4. While it’s good to see that 31% of organizations are investing in Identity and Access Management (IAM) this is a complex and often-ignored area. Security and business executives need to understand who has access to sensitive data, why these people need access, how often they access sensitive data, and what they do with the data once they access it. This is a very difficult thing to do but it starts with strong authentication, the principle of least privileges, and constant monitoring.

Viewfinity is a silver sponsor at the SC Congress NY show at the Metropolitan Pavilion in New York City being held on November 16, 2011. SC Congress is a targeted event that brings together IT security experts to talk about current IT trends, IT security breaches, vulnerabilities in mobile and cloud security, and IT security solutions that are overall helping companies secure their network.

Viewfinity Privilege Management will be demonstrated at Booth #312.

Click here to register for a demo session

We look forward to seeing you at SC Congress New York.

View our webinar:  Moving to a Least Privilege Environment for Endpoint Protection 

Learn how your endpoint security arsenal needs a multi-layer of technologies …

Group Policy MVP Jeremy Moskowitz and founder of PolicyPak demos the Group Policy way to use Viewfinity Privilege Management on his blog titled, “PolicyPak Complements Viewfinity Privilege Management.”  Below is a reposting of Jeremy Moskowitz’s blog.

The guys at Viewfinity have the right idea (here’s a quote from their website).“Viewfinity Privilege Management offers IT Administrators a flexible approach for controlling its corporate desktop and laptop environment.”

One of Viewfinity’s super-powers is to operate users with a least privilege account then elevate the application’s rights that require them. Getting to a “least privilege” desktop is, definitely a good idea.

But, even when least privilege accounts are all used, there’s still a ticking time bomb waiting for you: Standard users can still misconfigure the desktop, operating system (Control Panel), key applications (Flash, Acrobat, Java), or any desktop and business applications you have.

PolicyPak can help when you’ve already got Viewfinity Privilege Management in place and how to ensure your desktop and applications are truly locked down and secure.

Note: Viewfinity has two ways to implement least privilege – using Group Policy or using a cloud service. The video only shows the Group Policy way to use Viewfinity Privilege Management, but if you use their cloud service, PolicyPak will work with it just the same.

• How are you able to guarantee key application and operating system settings for users?
• How can you prevent users from messing up their apps?
• How can you ensure users won’t work around your important security and operating system settings?
• How can you re-apply key application and operating systems settings when users are disconnected from the network?

More details about the HIPAA Audit Program emerged as KPMG wins contract to perform audits, as reported by Howard Anderson, Executive Editor, HealthcareInfoSecurity.com in his article titled “HIPAA Audit Program Details Emerge.”

The chances of your healthcare organization being audited by KPGM may sound small or unlikely because they are only expecting about only 150 audits to be completed by the end of 2012.  Just think for a second- what if your organization was one of the 150 selected- are you prepared to pass the HIPAA Audit Program?  If not, are you prepared to face possible fines or run the risk of being made an example to other healthcare organizations?

Viewfinity has helped EagleMed, LLC comply with HIPAA compliance mandates with its award winning Privilege Management solution.  After locking down PCs and moving to a least privilege environment while using Viewfinity Privilege Management to manage administrator rights, EagleMed has been able to effectively prevent the sharing of patient data.  Also, EagleMed is widely reducing the security risks introduced through malware. The successful and meaningful deployment of Viewfinity Privilege Management at EagleMed has won them the 2011 Info Security Products Guide Best Deployment Scenario Award.

 Don’t delay, get started now on the path of complying with HIPAA.

Viewfinity was mentioned in a Wall Street Journal article this week.  Below is an excerpt with a link to the full article.

Though there’s nuances to each product, most of the small companies in this sector are either providing a subscription service with a lower price tag and ability to incorporate mobile workers in the platform, or selling virtual desktop technologies that enable customers to get a better handle on management by storing all their desktops inside the data center.

Here’s a sampling of start-ups and small companies trying to change this sector:

Viewfinity Inc. is selling a subscription service geared towards smaller companies that don’t have the means to buy and run a traditional PC management suite. Since the service runs over the Internet, it easily pulls mobile workers under its umbrella- something that’s difficult from the traditional on-premise vendors to accomplish. Investors include Giza Venture Capital, JK&B Capital and Longworth Venture Partners.

Read the full article: http://blogs.wsj.com/venturecapital/2010/07/26/start-ups-look-to-disrupt-stodgy-pc-management-space/

-New OS Image Deployment, Patch Management, Privilege Management and Interactive Dashboard Features Continue Viewfinity’s Commitment to Customers-

Waltham, MA – June 14, 2010 – Viewfinity (www.viewfinity.com), the innovator of privilege and systems management, today released version 3.0 of its solution suite. Nearly 3 months after its debut launch into the market, Viewfinity continues to make good on its commitment to customer-led product development and to build products that are critically needed in the market.

See the new features and updates in a live webcast demonstration, June 16th at 11:45 am ET

Register here to attend: http://www.viewfinity.com/Resources/LiveDemo.aspx?reg=sm

Additional Viewfinity features / functionality include:

· Privilege Management: administrators can create policies that will execute scripts without needing to assign local administrator rights to the end user; identify applications that require administrator rights, and permit or block the use of child processes

· OS Deployment: creates an exact disk image of the laptop/desktop including the operating system, configuration files and all applications and deploys the image to multiple systems simultaneously, making it ideal for rapid bare-metal installations (OS deployment via Acronis Snap Deploy)

· Patch Management: fully manages the distribution of updates released through Microsoft Update to computers in your network as well as mobile computers not connected to the internal network

· Viewfinity Dashboard: provides a quick view into the operations and status of the company assets through live monitoring of select desktops and servers to identify problematic areas

· Windows 7 OS Deployment with Viewfinity User Migration: a valuable add-on to the Acronis image deployment software for domain based migration of user personal settings, application settings and user data files to prepare for and perform the migration from Windows XP or Vista to Windows 7.

Viewfinity also complements traditional systems management, such as SCCM, by offering new flexibility to manage administrator rights for locked down computers.

Viewfinity Systems Management solution can be delivered from a web-hosted platform or installed on premises. All desktop management is done through a secure and encrypted HTTPS connection which provides the ideal method for managing PCs for remote and mobile workers. Its web-hosted platform is also ideal for proof-of-concept evaluations because it eliminates the need to build a complex server environment to evaluate or deploy the software.

Online registration is available for trial evaluations here: http://www.viewfinity.com/SaasStart.aspx

Tags: Viewfinity, Desktop Management, Systems Management, Patch Management, OS Deployment, Software Deployment, Privilege Management, SaaS, Windows 7 Migration

About Viewfinity

Viewfinity is the innovator of systems and privilege management via cloud-computing, allowing IT professionals to focus on managing systems and not the platform's infrastructure. With the cloud model, IT can be up and running quickly to provide management, support and control for desktops, servers and laptops. This makes it extremely cost effective and easy for IT to support local as well as mobile workers.

Viewfinity uses virtualization technology as the foundation to simplify and automate deployment and management of applications, licenses and assets. Viewfinity also complements traditional systems management by offering compliance adherence to flexibly manage privileges for locked down computers. Viewfinity's cloud approach delivers immediate and long-term value, scales with business need, and eliminates the equipment, training, and substantially higher costs of on-premise implementations. Based in Waltham, MA, information on Viewfinity systems management solutions can be found at www.viewfinity.com.

Wednesday, June 9, 2010
1:00 PM ET / 10:00 AM PT / 5:00 PM GMT
Overview: Managing the mobile user is the number one pain point in desktop management, and is a challenge that continues to escalate. Most IT professionals are struggling for a better method to remotely perform patch management, deploy/update applications, manage user privileges, and resolve problems faster. Are you relying on traditional tools that were designed when only 10% of your users had laptops?

Read more…

http://www.myitforum.com/Forums/calendar.aspx?eventID=28&calDate=2010-06-09

If you’ve been following the news lately, you are already seeing us making some serious inroads into the industry for Cloud computer.  Today, NetworkWorld adds us to the top 15 companies to watch:

Read it here:

http://www.networkworld.com/supp/2010/ndc3/051010-ndc-cloud-companies.html?page=7