Most people are fairly good at reading, but not enough are good at reading between the lines. More often than not, there are certain things hidden in plain sight that may not catch your attention.
The eyes of a system administrator are often glued to tasks like system maintenance and user administration. When engaged in many tasks at once, it is only human to overlook a few things like patch and antivirus updates, but it can cost an organization dearly in terms of data security. It is important that the health and security of your company’s network are maintained by capable hands.
ManageEngine offers a wide range of unified endpoint management solutions to promote smoother IT operations, and one of them is Desktop Central. Desktop Central is a web-based Windows application that acts as an all-in-one platform for managing servers, laptops, desktops, smartphones, and tablets from a single console.
“Prevention is better than a cure.”
While some mistakes are inevitable, there are several that can be prevented by using Desktop Central. When juggling multiple IT operations, a sysadmin may miss out on the following:
1) Monitoring log files
Imagine waking up to find all your text conversations deleted and having to remember exactly what you said to each person. Pretty difficult, right? Now, imagine the anguish of a sysadmin trying to remember all the network IT processes performed for an organization with hundreds or thousands of users.
Keeping track of the IT operations performed in the network provides better visibility. During network troubleshooting, log files often come to a sysadmin’s rescue as they provide visibility into the network.
Desktop Central provides well-formatted reports that can be divided into various types, such as configuration reports, user logon reports, and Active Directory reports. These provide quick access to performance details and help IT admins reduce security risks by bringing second-tier concerns to the forefront.
2) Keeping systems updated
A quick glance at the smartphone in your pocket can confirm if you regularly update the applications running on it. If not, you will lag behind the fast-paced and ever-changing technology of our times. Similarly, it is vital to keep an organization’s network current with the latest updates. Systems that are not up-to-date are more vulnerable to threats, adding to a sysadmin’s pile of security concerns.
Monitoring multiple systems that require updates is an enormous task that falls on a sysadmin’s shoulders. Desktop Central can streamline this process using its patch and asset scanning abilities that detect missing patches and track changes in hardware and software in the network. Desktop Central allows you to schedule the scans at your convenience so no other ongoing processes are interrupted.
The System Health Policy provided by Desktop Central is the icing on your cake. The System Health Policy classifies systems in the network as healthy, vulnerable, or highly vulnerable based on the severity of the patch updates present. You can customize your own criteria to assess the health of a system for better evaluation that caters to your business requirements.
3) Categorizing users and role management
Ever entered the wrong password and received an “access denied” notification across your screen? That’s exactly what an unauthorized user in your network should find.
It is vital for sysadmins to understand the role of every user and the amount of access that should be given to them. Users in a network can have different roles, such as auditor, administrator, or guest. Different users require access to different information and not all of them need to have the same degree of control.
Desktop Central offers you the flexibility to define roles and grant them permissions based on each individual’s needs. This allows for better control over data and protects it from unsafe hands. Desktop Central has pre-configured user roles with a well-defined set of permissions. It also allows you to create new types of users and modify the necessary set of permissions and restrictions for them.
4) Testing before deployment
Just as cars must undergo safety tests to ensure they are safe to drive, it is better to test patch updates in your system before release to avoid network crashes. Sysadmins often lack the time and resources to test updates before deploying them, which may later result in technical turbulence.
Desktop Central lets you test critical patches before rolling them out to the entire network. You can test and approve them manually or automate the process. The approved patches will proceed for deployment, which can be scheduled at your convenience. This feature makes any sysadmin’s life easier.
5) Blocklisting software
Every well-known social media platform has a block button to restrict offensive messaging. Similarly, some software can put your organization’s network security at risk and give the sysadmins a headache.
Desktop Central prevents this with a feature that detects and removes any particular software you want to eliminate from your network. You can also request that the software be retained in systems that require it. This helps your organization tackle compliance issues and tighten network security.
6) Verifying unknown scripts
Growing up, one of the first lessons we are taught is to never trust a stranger. Should sysadmins trust scripts they find anywhere online? No! Any script downloaded from the internet must be verified as the wrong ones can harm your network. Sysadmins should never assume that scripts found on the web are secure.
Repetitive IT tasks can be performed using custom scripts. Desktop Central has implemented suggestions taken from customer interactions and support feedback to arm you with a script repository. Script templates, which are updated periodically, can be added to your local repository. You can also create your own scripts, add them to the repository, and deploy them using the configuration settings of Desktop Central. Collectively, these minimize security risks.
7) Following best practices
Practice makes perfect. Following a few best practices can make sysadmins perfect too. Avoiding recycling passwords and intentionally resetting them after an employee leaves an organization reduces network vulnerabilities.
Desktop Central considers user information a top protection priority. Whenever a user’s data is obtained across the integrated applications, Desktop Central asks for the user’s consent, letting them know the reason the data is required and where it will be stored. This gives the user the freedom to withdraw their consent at any time.
Desktop Central’s versatile reporting features allow you to hide personally identifiable information (PII) while generating reports. Desktop Central is also compliant with the GDPR, HIPAA, ISO, PCI DSS, VPAT, NIST, and RBI to ensure that end users’ private data is not at risk.
If the weight of the IT tasks on the sysadmin’s shoulders makes it difficult for them to carry out tasks thoroughly and to perfection, this could cost your organization millions in the event of a breach. ManageEngine’s suite of unified endpoint management and security solutions assists every IT administrator in distributing, managing, and securing applications. Get your hands on a free, 30-day trial of Desktop Central here to put an end to your endpoint management troubles.
