This year we received a virtual appliance that came pre-installed and configured with Retina CS. The initial configuration was minimal, though we had a few errors while adding the software license. We contacted customer support and they fixed our issue within a few hours. After integrating the virtual appliance, we connected to the BeyondInsight manager service component.
We used Google Chrome to connect to Beyond- Insight with no issues at first. The home page of the dashboard loaded rather quickly. Once we tried to navigate to some of the other main categories, though, we were notified that those features required Adobe Flash, though other features didn't. We did not expect to see this kind of inconsistency, so we used Internet Explorer for the rest of testing.
Once we connected to Retina CS, we noted the interface's clean and organized layout. We have seen some management dashboard include an overwhelming amount of information. But this dashboard has a clean and logical design and is also intuitive. Someone with little experience likely can scan and generate a specific report.
Retina CS has features to automate a few tasks. When setting up your scanning parameters, you can set the final report to automatically generate the file format of your choice. Once the report is complete you can manually retrieve it, send it directly to an email address, or send an email notification to another recipient.
Setting up your first scan job is intuitive as is generating the desired reports. Once scans are complete, they output to the jobs category. We found the graphs and layout to look outdated style-wise. Still, the data is robust, easy to read, and presented well, which is ideal. The report is divided by vulnerability summary, job metrics, and a list of every vulnerability found. The report dives deeper and displays useful information such as the description of the vulnerability, how to fix it, and a CVSS score.
Retina CS offers a large selection of report templates as well as added compliance features. The Regulatory Reporting Module simplifies reporting for many government and industry mandates. The Configuration Compliance Module streamlines auditing and reporting against industry standard configuration guidelines. You can also find reporting for industry-best practices from FDCC, NIST, STIGS, USGCB, CIS and Microsoft.
Retina CS starts at $35 per asset and includes modules for configuration compliance, patch management, and reporting packs. Annual maintenance is 20 percent of first-year license cost or $7 per asset. A self-service customer portal features a knowledgebase. BeyondTrust includes 24/7 phone support and a three-year appliance warranty with next business day service.
- Matt Hreben with Dan Cure;
tested by Matt Hreben
