How can we further enhance the user experience for Secunia CSI users that use Microsoft System Center Configuration Manager for patch deployment to make their life easier and their infrastructure more secure?

During the past year, as we have been following Microsoft’s roll-out of System Center 2012, this question has been a key driver for our development efforts, and today I am truly excited to introduce what I will call our third generation of the Secunia CSI integration with Microsoft System Center Configuration Manager, namely the Secunia CSI – Microsoft System Center 2012 Configuration Manager plugin or as we have come to call it internally, the "SC2012 plugin".

Back in 2010 we introduced the first integration between the Secunia CSI and Microsoft WSUS, allowing users to silently and easily deploy third-party (non-Microsoft) security updates with WSUS/System Center Configuration Manager. Since this first generation integration, we have continuously been in dialogue with our loyal users, customers and partners on how to provide further integration and how to get even more value out of the two solutions in combination.

When launching the Secunia CSI 6.0 in August this year, we took the integration with System Center Configuration Manager one step further by allowing users to use the System Center Configuration Manager software inventory agent for data collection instead of having to install the Secunia CSI agent on each endpoint (watch a video of how it works here). Installing “yet another agent” in your infrastructure is not exactly what most IT and Security professionals like – even though the CSI agent is indeed extremely light-weight – so we listened to the feedback and worked with our users to develop this second generation integration with System Center Configuration Manager, which has been very well-received in the market.

With the launch of the SC2012 plugin today, we are taking the integration with Microsoft System Center 2012 one step further by allowing you to have the Secunia Package System (SPS) displayed directly in your System Center 2012 console, making all the third-party updates, including the intelligence provided by the Secunia CSI, readily available and easily accessible for you. This means that as of today, you will be able to do all of your System Center Configuration Manager patch management directly from one console in System Center Configuration Manager, benefitting from the intelligence, scanning and patch creation capabilities provided by the Secunia CSI to help you prioritize your remediation efforts and patch management in System Center Configuration Manager.

For Secunia CSI users, this means that they are now able to set up a complete patch management process within System Center 2012, allowing you to prioritize your remediation efforts based on, for example, the criticality of the individual vulnerabilities or the number of hosts affected by a certain vulnerability. In this way you are able to maximize your risk reduction by focusing on the most severe issues first and the vulnerabilities that can be easily fixed here and now.

You can read more about the Secunia SC2012 plugin and request a trial at: http://secunia.com/sc2012plugin


Stay Secure

Morten R. Stengaard
Director, Product Management & Quality Assurance