4.7 Running Security Checks

When you run a security check, Secure Configuration Manager compares all the endpoints you specify to all the preferred security settings listed in the security checks. Secure Configuration Manager runs only the security checks that apply to the endpoint type. For example, security checks related to Active Directory run only on Windows computers.

You can run security checks at any time. If you want to gather data for a specific period of time, you can run reports from the database rather than have the agent gather current data from the endpoint. The database maintains results from previous runs of each security check. You can compare results for each run using the delta report function. For more information about gathering security check data from the database, see Running Reports from the Database. For more information about delta reporting, see Section 10.0, Comparing Results of Assessments.

If you do not know which security checks you want to run, you can initiate a search based on several criteria. For example, you can search for checks based on keyword, platform, category, and other criteria.

The time it takes to run a security check varies, depending on the number of checks and endpoints you select. Ensure that the report is complete before you view the resulting report in the Completed jobs queue. You can print or distribute the completed report to present compliance status results or to use as a remediation checklist. For more information about completed reports, see Viewing Assessment Results. For more information about distributing a copy of the report, see Enabling Report Distribution.

To run a security check, your console user account must have the Run Security Checks permission. For more information, see Managing Permissions.