News
Free Windows 2000 Security Configuration Tool Posted
- By Scott Bekker
- July 18, 2002
Groups independent of Microsoft have put out a new free tool for securely configuring Windows 2000 desktops.
Private groups and government agencies worked together on the Windows 2000 Professional Operating System Benchmark -- Consensus Baseline Security Settings -- and released it on Wednesday.
Parties behind the document and toolset include the Center for Internet Security, which posted the toolset on its Web site (www.cisecurity.org); the SANS Institute; the U.S. National Security Agency; the U.S. Defense Information Systems Agency; the U.S. National Institute of Standards and Technology; and the U.S. General Services Agency.
The tool represents "security configuration recommendations beyond the minimum due care level for windows 2000 workstations," according to the CIS Web site.
The site also includes less stringent security benchmarks for Windows 2000 and Windows NT, called Level-1 benchmarks. A separate Scoring Tool allows users to evaluate systems compared to each of the benchmarks.
The CIS Web site contains similar tools and documents for securing Unix systems and Cisco routers.
About the Author
Scott Bekker is editor in chief of Redmond Channel Partner magazine.