The basis of any policy management tool is the ability to manage its users and to recognize potential problem areas. Some do this without agents and others prefer to manage policy enforcement with agents residing on both workstations and servers. This is the case for Symantec Enterprise Security Manager, which uses the agents as its means of communication between its networked machines, enabling timely updates and compliance reports.
Symantec Enterprise Security Manager has already established itself in the policy management solutions market. This particular solution ensures that policies are intrinsically complied with throughout the organization, as well as maintaining system security through recognizing changes that could affect the security of the network.
Using control information files (CIF) the product can be managed from a central console, but in a large organization you may require more than one. Agents provide the means for the information to be collected across a distributed network to ensure updates are accomplished at regular intervals. Changes can be identified and the appropriate action taken, while logs and reports may be generated for further analysis.
Installation is accomplished after network resources have been categorized. Agents need to be grouped into domains but you can group by geographical location, departments or by authorization. Policies need to be written to enable the organization to enforce them, and some are provided to get you started.
The console provides the means to roll out crucial updates across the network via LiveUpdate. This integration is new to this release and ensures that security updates are provided in a timely fashion, although only available when on certain license/service agreements.
Suitable for the larger enterprise model, the product is supported by a variety of Symantec Security Licensing programs.
So, what you get is an enterprise-wide policy enforcement tool that enables security analysis, vulnerability assessment, policy compliance and data integrity checks.
