Someone asked me about this today, so i decided to post it.
Many organizations are looking for a way to track and know when their SSL certificates are about to expire. in Come VerifySSL.
VerifySSL is a free tool, that tracks SSL Certs and tells you when the certs are about to expire…
take a look at the easy to use UI…
Hope you find this useful…
Stirling is almost here, after waiting for this new innovative product from Microsoft (Originating in MSReseach), our wait is about to end.
Imagine a central system; consolidating all your potential threats coming from all the elements of the Forefront Security suite, Microsoft calls this Security Assessment Sharing (SAS) where each individual component has an agent that uses analytics to generate security assessments.
As you know the forefront suite, consists of Client Security, Server Security (for Exchange, Sharepoint, OCS), TMG (ISA Next) and UAG (IAG Next)…all these components report to the central concentrator for correlation and response. With the addition of NIS (Network Inspection System) into the mix, this is looking to be an excellent addition to an organizations SIM / SOC.
Once an attack is suspected or actually happens, the system can notify or take action! Being empowered to take action and to mitigate attacks that stem in protocol and OS vulnerabilities immediately, giving you the needed time to update your systems.
Take a look at some of the reports that “Stirling” can provide:
Just in from my good buddy Avi Ben Menahem in redmond…
Reblogged from http://blogs.technet.com/isablog/archive/2009/10/18/network-inspection-system-nis-in-forefront-tmg-release-candidate.aspx
TMG Community,
We are pleased to announce that the release candidate (RC) update for Forefront Threat Management Gateway (TMG) will include several important developments for the Network Inspection System (NIS), the signature-based part of the Forefront TMG Intrusion Prevention System:
Please make sure to upgrade your Forefront TMG beta deployments to the Forefront TMG RC release. In this release, NIS signature updates, including the dynamic engine update, will be available through Microsoft Update. We will no longer support NIS signature updates to earlier beta versions once the RC is released.
hey there,
Every organization I know has a certain percentage of their computing systems already on Virtual environments. I just uploaded 2 great documents that provide insight on how to start protecting the virtual world…take a look:
http://www.msecurity.net/_Uploads/dbsAttachedFiles/Tripwire_Virtualization_Control_WP.pdf
http://www.msecurity.net/_Uploads/dbsAttachedFiles/Tripwire_Enterprise_VMware_DS.pdf
Hope you find these useful…C U Soon…
Talsa
Soooo, where were we?....another key benefit of FIM-CM, is that the system can provide detailed reports on your smartcard deployment. FIM-CM provides 3 types of reports that are really key in a smartcard deployment:
· Summary Reports - graphical summary of certificate lifecycle usage information
· Detailed Reports - granular information on certificate / smart card lifecycle usage
· Settings Reports - configuration and settings of certificate or profile templates
Reports help you keep track of what, who, when and where… smart card configuration reports, smart card deployment and tracking reports. For example, let’s say you want to find out who has been provisioned with a smart card for login access, what is their certificate usage, when are they due to expire? All these questions can be easy answered with the reporting capabilities of FIM-CM…
BTW, all certificate lifecycle activity logs and auditing information is stored in SQL Server repository if you really have a need for any custom reports, they can be pretty easily developed using SQL Server Report Manager.
So as “they” say knowing and keeping track and constantly measuring is a key way to ensure success…
As you know, Microsoft is getting ready for the next wave of information security products. One product that we have been waiting for is FIM – forefront Identity Manager, formerly known as ILM (Identity Lifecycle Manager). FIM has two main functions…the first is classic Identity management…you know…Provisioning, de-provisioning, Connecting your directories and user repositories and making sure that everything is consistent.
The second function is certificate management. There are many certificate management scenarios that organizations want to manage and deploy.
For example, smart card logon, DirectAccess with Windows Server 2008 R2, secure remote access (VPN), secure messaging (S/MIME), secure web access (SSL), document signing, wireless LAN authentication and file & hard drive encryption.
Let’s take the example of smart card login, which provides organization, the ability to securely identify a trusted entity accessing their systems. This is often referred to as two or three factor authentication. Something you have (the smartcard), something you know (the PIN) and something you are (in the case of Biometrics).
So how can FIM help us? FIM-CM provides certificate management capabilities, such as configuration and provisioning of the smart card to support smart card logon (BTW, of course these cards can have physical access abilities, Magnetic Strip, Java apps, and more). FIM gives us an easy to use portal that enroll users and user accounts with smart cards, manages smart cards and the certificates once users are enrolled. And finally, when a users leaves, FIM also handles the de-provisioning of the card to revoke access.
As we get closer to the launch and moving forward, I’ll share with you my discoveries along the way…
C U Soon,
Talsa
