Purpose

The purpose of this document is to provide some Q&A and cover best practices on using the 'Security Tools' patch type filter within Protect.

Description

What are Security Tools?

Within Protect it's possible to enable scanning for a patch type filter of "Security Tools". Security Tools are updates and security advisories such as Windows Defender updates and Windows Malicious Software Removal Tool. This also includes certificate updates and hotfixes for known security risks that are not yet fully supported by a security bulletin.

Scanning for Security Tools is enabled within a custom Patch Scan Template. (Figure 1)

Figure 1: Example of Filtering tab within a custom Patch Scan Template using the Security Tools filter:

Best Practice for Scanning/Deploying Security Tools

The best practice for using Security Tools is to only apply these when necessary and when proper testing has been done in your environment. Most items in set as a Security Tool in Protect apply only for specific scenarios. Make sure to read the corresponding Bulletin or KB article from the vendor prior to applying these updates.

Why do some Security Tools always show as missing?

There are some items classifed as security tools that will always show as missing due to the nature of the update. Please see the following document concerning these updates: http://community.shavlik.com/docs/DOC-23049

Affected Product(s)

Shavlik Protect 9.x

vCenter Protect 8.x

Shavlik SDK

Shavlik Rebrands