Application deployment dashboards are a security risk

Out-of-the-box application deployment dashboards only show what types of machines are in your environment and if your software application package was (or wasn’t) successfully deployed on various machines. Unless you’re IT team has put in a ridiculous amount of time customizing your application deployment dashboard, they don’t answer the much harder question that IT security teams are left trying to figure out every day: does each machine have exactly the software it’s supposed to have and nothing else?

Without being able to answer this very simple, yet critical question, how can IT security teams have confidence that their environment complies with their security policy? The short answer is…they can’t…until now.

If you’re finding it difficult to understand whether your endpoints comply with your security policy, read on to understand how you can improve your cyber hygiene and finally achieve endpoint desired state configuration (DSC).

Your standard application deployment dashboard has a major flaw

Application deployment tools are essential to today’s IT and security teams. The data they collect on software, hardware, and networks is vital to maintaining compliance, but is it enough?

The feedback we’ve heard is a resounding “no, we’re still in the dark when it comes to compliance.”

While application deployment dashboards show that you’ve successfully deployed a particular software package (or didn’t), they won’t tell you that certain machines may now be out of compliance with your security policy because of this new installation.

Let me explain. Packaging and deploying applications successfully are manual, tedious, and time-consuming. Even with the most advanced application deployment tools on the market, expert software engineers are still writing the targeting, scripting, and installation logic for every new deployment. The more complex your environment becomes, the harder it is to keep track of every setting for every piece of software resulting in human error, failed deployments, and new security vulnerabilities.

For example, say that your team has packaged, and deployed Adobe Acrobat CC and your security policy states that your organization must use Microsoft SharePoint to store your files instead of Adobe’s cloud (no offense Adobe). With this new deployment, it’s possible that the default cloud storage application across your environment has been reset allowing end users to make the selection themselves.

The resulting security vulnerability won’t be reported by your application deployment tool nor any vulnerability scanner so while your deployment tool reports might suggest a “successful” deployment, every machine is now out of compliance leading to a potential breach.

How do you find these other issues?

Maybe you’ve already recognized that your deployment tool dashboards weren’t giving you the information you need to successfully manage compliance. Now you’re inundated with numerous manual reports and processes following a deployment to help identify where to turn your attention next. Unfortunately, any efficiencies you expected to gain by using these tools are now out the window.

Or maybe you wait for the tickets to roll in from individual users. Playing a game of support ticket whack-a-mole, decreasing your digital employee experience (DEX), and hastily reacting to issues as they pop up.

Meet AidenVision™, your done-for-you application deployment dashboard

Unlike out-of-the-box application deployment reporting from deployment tools, vulnerability scanners, and RMMs, with AidenVision, IT teams can quickly surface issues and reduce time-to-patch, improving security hygiene and DEX.

AidenVision’s granular contextual view shows how well each computer meets its policy-based desired state configuration (DSC). Using hyperautomation and natural language processing (NLP), AidenVision and AidenBot™ work jointly to arm IT security leaders with actionable insights to rapidly improve their security posture. AidenVision delivers the visibility needed by IT teams to meet their protection level agreements (PLAs) with business stakeholders.

START WITH DATA-DRIVEN VISUALIZATIONS

AidenVision’s interactive deployment dashboard allows you to easily audit your Windows environment, drilling down from a visual report. Know which computers are up to date, pending reboot, have compliance recommendations, aren’t reporting, or need troubleshooting. Use the deployment timeline to quickly review the history of each machine, down to the software version and when it was installed.

RICH CONTEXTUAL TROUBLESHOOTING

Troubleshooting is easier with contextual information you can drill down into each machine, policy affecting it, exact reasons for aborted deployments, and detailed filtering – by group, location, hardware manufacturer, and device mode.

With AidenVision, you can drill down to endpoints and see what is missing compared to your desired state configuration. You’ll have the justification, the rule that explains why it’s required by policy, as well as all the configuration details related to that specific packaging.

TRANSPARENT ACCOUNTABILITY

Monitor deployments with confidence that your endpoints are getting updated with the software they need and nothing else. See and show that your SLAs are met with AidenVision’s visualizations and track your compliance improvements over time. Present these results and vulnerability management insights to your stakeholders.

Why we developed AidenVision

Perennially, the #1 security recommendation is to keep your software updated and patched. But it continues to take 102 days on average to accomplish, yet there’s often a lack of confirmation that it’s done properly, and that the machine is in compliance with your security policy. Even if your application deployment dashboard suggests that your deployment was successful, there’s a lack of context to ensure that customizations haven’t been reverted. This problem isn’t going away on its own.

IT security teams need more context than today’s out-of-the-box deployment, vulnerability, and RMM tools’ reporting can deliver. For instance, we’ve talked to teams that know they have an issue with specific locations or hardware groups, but they struggle to uncover the insights needed to address the issue and keep these sites or devices in compliance and working properly. Aiden and AidenVision can help!

AidenVision highlights the insights needed to improve security posture and Aiden allows you to enforce desired state configuration automatically.