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CSS Central: Solving the Unique Challenges of Centralized Management By Mary Landesman The Issues When properly managed, networks enhance productivity and lower costs by sharing resources throughout the organization. They also pose unique challenges for those charged with administering them. System administrators and network managers must be able to acquire, assess, deploy, and maintain software for all of the domains within their responsibility. In addition, they must act as security managers, providing a defensive strategy against threats from areas such as computer viruses. Complicating matters is the complexity of the modern working environment. Network managers must administer a diverse mix of operating systems, workstations, servers, and users. Each of these has unique requirements which must be addressed in a timely and efficient manner. Often, these requirements must be met simultaneously in order to provide the effective defense required. The security and integrity of domain management presents some of the most pressing challenges the network administrator must face on a daily basis. This challenge increases proportionately based on the overall number of systems that must be managed. Alarming Statistics
These perturbing statistics indicate that the current methods of managing anti-virus software are not sufficient. With over 19,000 known computer viruses and over 250 new viruses per month being discovered, businesses need a proactive management method to ensure total defense compliance throughout their enterprise. Corporate Anti-Virus Policies
The criteria for the software selection must be decided upon, the products must be evaluated and, finally, the software purchased. This stage of the process, as it will be dependent upon the operating systems being used, can be complicated by the diverse environments which are found in the modern corporate office. The network manager will be severely taxed if administration of the various platforms is not centralized. The users must be educated as to the proper use of the software. This training must convey the need for the software and subsequent components, as well as its proper use. As many casual users may not be aware of the very real threats involved, they may need additional training on viruses themselves and what steps they should take if one is encountered. However, in spite of the best training efforts, there is no guaranteed assurance that the users will maintain optimum configurations or otherwise comply with the anti-virus policy. It is this final factor that poses the most concern for the administrators. To effectively maintain compliance, administrators must be aware of the factors leading to a breakdown in security and the appropriate remedies. Security Breakdowns
Another cause of security breakdown stems from users having the incorrect version or out-of-date signature files for the anti-virus software on their system. Unlike conventional software, the anti-virus definition files must be continuously updated to remain effective. Failures in this area constitute one of the greatest risks to the security of the network. Yet many administrators do not update their anti-virus software as often as they should due to time constraints. Even if the administrator provides the updated files in a timely fashion, there is no guarantee the user will implement them. This again emphasizes the challenge of meeting the demands of the security requirements promptly, yet with minimal impact on the limited resources of the administrator. Assuming that users have not changed the settings on their local machines and that the anti-virus software is current, the likelihood of an infection is decreased substantially. However, even if dynamic protection is used to perform on-access scanning, it is still good practice to perform periodic, thorough scans of the local and network drives. Though administrators may encourage users to adhere to these requirements, it is far too easy for the user to ignore the advice. Restricting the user from modifying or creating scan tasks can hamper the initiatives of employees who do wish to comply. A solution to both of these is to allow the users the ability to modify and create their own tasks, and also allow the administrator to push tasks to machines with pre-specified functions. For example, the network manager may wish to have a complete scan of all files on all drives performed nightly. A single task could be created specifying the time and files to scan. This task would be globally distributed to all users. This ensures compliance throughout the organization, without local user intervention. Being able to centrally manage and deploy scan tasks is a key component in an anti-virus network management tool. Many corporations require that a certification process be completed prior to rolling out any software, including updates. In addition, default settings within the anti-virus software may need to be changed to suit the needs of the group or individual. Ideally, changes such as these should be accomplished prior to distribution, thus ensuring the administrator achieves the anti-virus goals with minimal intervention. Many software vendors require administrators to install the software onto a system, change the settings, and rebuild the file package to customize installations. A more proactive course allows for the editing of all options, prior to any installations, via a single initialization file. Another proactive method would allow administrators to change settings remotely after installation via a central console. As importantly, administrators must be provided with a method of managing the users and controlling the files or configurations of the individual or group. Large corporations may be spread out over a large geographic area or among multiple floors of an office building. Managing the hundreds of computers involved often requires a substantial staff. These additional costs must be factored in when calculating the total cost of ownership of specific software or security requirements. Providing a domain management tool which allows for this administration from a central console significantly reduces the total cost of ownership of anti-virus software and thus overall security requirements. A complete management package should be expected to:
Current market solutions generally focus on only one or two of the needed aspects. For example, several distribution packages are available which focus solely on distribution and do not allow for management after deployment. Secondly, the file-based nature of these programs is not intuitive in discerning or establishing the individual configurations required by a specific set of users. Finally, the software deployment executes solely via the login script, bypassing those users who do not routinely login and out each day. Other solutions focus on restricting the user from certain types of access. Files and executables are locked down prohibiting all changes from taking effect. Each time a user needs anything modified, the systems administrator must be called in to assist. While there are management consoles which will assess or audit basic information from a system, there are no tools available to dynamically change software settings or verify the integrity of the anti-virus software in place. Often, it is the sheer complexity or strenuous system requirements that prevents the administrator from using even those tools which are available.
The solution
Feature List
Centralized Configuration Management
Locking Mechanism
Automated Pull
Automated Deployment
Administration Features
System Requirements
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