Assess Windows Security State With Microsoft Baseline Security Analyzer

Microsoft updated their Microsoft Baselines Security Analyzer software recently to make the software compatible with Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2. The concept of the program remains unchanged: To offer system administrators and end users a comfortable way of assessing the security state of a Windows computer system. Microsoft Baseline Security Analyzer can assess the security state for local and remote computer systems.

System administrators can select a known computer name or enter an IP address and port during configuration of the analyzer. It is furthermore possible to select the multi-scan option which allows the admin to specify an IP range for the scan. Various options are provided in the configuration menu that basically configure the depth of the scan. It will by default check for Windows administrative vulnerabilities, weak passwords, IIS administrative vulnerabilities, SQL administrative vulnerability and security updated with addition options selectable for advanced usage.

The security assessment report will then display if security risks have been found during the scan. These risks will be displayed in an overview at the top of the report which gives an option to quickly look over the findings of the software program. Each section outlines what the program scanned, gives details about the results and offers solutions to correct the issues that were found.

The Microsoft Baseline Security Analyzer provides a streamlined method to identify missing security updates and common security misconfigurations. [..] To assess missing security updates, MBSA will only scan for missing security updates, update rollups and service packs available from Microsoft Update. MBSA will not scan or report missing non-security updates, tools or drivers.

To give one basic example. If the program finds that security updates are missing it will display those missing updates with options to download them right away. Microsoft Baseline Security Analyzer is a free download for all Microsoft operating systems since Windows 2000 including Windows XP, Windows Vista and Windows 7. The program is available for 32-bit and 64-bit editions.

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