This white paper provides an overview of how to use GFI LANguard Network Security Scanner (N.S.S.) and Microsoft Windows Software Update Services (WSUS) to keep your network automatically updated with the latest security patches.
Patch management with GFI LANguard
N.S.S. & Microsoft WSUS
A cost-effective and easy solution for network-wide patch
management
This white paper provides an overview of how to use GFI LANguard Network Security Scanner (N.S.S.) and Microsoft Windows Software Update Services (WSUS) to keep your network automatically updated with the latest security patches.
WWW.GFI.COM Patch management with GFI LANguard N.S.S. & Microsoft WSUS . 2
Introduction Patch management is an essential network administration task. It consists of scanning machines on the network for missing patches and deploying those patches as soon as they become available. Failure to do so makes a network doubly vulnerable - not only is the vulnerability there, but it has now also been publicized, making it more likely to be exploited by malicious users, hackers and virus writers.
Time and again, however, countless administrators fail to apply the right patches leading to worms which exploit security vulnerabilities in Microsoft operating systems. One such notorious case was Zotob, the August 2005 worm that spread by exploiting known vulnerabilities in unpatched Microsoft SQL 2000 based computers. Until recently, the main reason for this was because installing patches was a cumbersome and daunting job. Yet with the advent of sophisticated automatic patch management tools, this scenario can be eliminated.
This white paper provides an overview of how any network administrator use GFI LANguard Network Security Scanner (N.S.S.) and Microsoft Windows Software Update Services (WSUS) to keep the network updated with minimal effort. Introduction....................................................................................................................................2 WSUS and GFI LANguard N.S.S..................................................................................................2 How to set up patch management on your network......................................................................4 Conclusion...................................................................................................................................10 About GFI ....................................................................................................................................11
WSUS and GFI LANguard N.S.S.
What is GFI LANguard Network Security Scanner (N.S.S.)? GFI LANguard N.S.S. is a security scanner that checks your network for possible security vulnerabilities by scanning your entire network for missing security patches, service packs, open shares, open ports, unused user accounts and more. Its powerful reporting allows you to easily lock down your network against hackers. GFI LANguard N.S.S. can also remotely deploy missing patches and service packs in applications and operating system.
What is Windows Software Update Services (WSUS)? Microsoft WSUS is a free patch management tool provided by Microsoft to help network administrators deploy the latest Microsoft product updates to Microsoft Windows Server 2000, Windows server 2003 and Windows XP operating systems. In addition, WSUS allows information technology administrators to easily deploy security and other update patches to Microsoft applications including Microsoft Office XP, Microsoft Office 2003, Microsoft Exchange 2003 as well as Microsoft SQL Server 2000.
WWW.GFI.COM Patch management with GFI LANguard N.S.S. & Microsoft WSUS . 3
By using Microsoft WSUS, administrators can fully manage the distribution of patches that are released through Microsoft Update to computers in their network. In simple terms, Microsoft WSUS is a version of Microsoft Update that you can run on your network. Instead of each workstation having to connect to the Internet to update Windows, each workstation connects to the Microsoft WSUS Server instead and updates from there. In addition, a WSUS (Master/ Upstream) server can be the update source for other WSUS servers within the organization. Thus, the WSUS (Master/Upstream2) Server alone requires access to the public Internet as it connects to Windows Update. By connecting to Windows Update, Microso... [download for more]
