Announcing the Data Classification Toolkit for Windows Server "8" Beta! A successful data classification program requires careful planning in these critical areas: Identification of applicable IT GRC authority documents. Documentation...

Had to repost this awesome write-up from our fearless leader Chase: http://windowsteamblog.com/windows/b/springboard/archive/2012/04/11/data-data-everywhere-not-a-control-to-waste.aspx Rock on. -jeff

You’ve been asking for Exchange Server baselines. You’ve been waiting for the Windows 7 SP1 baseline update. They are all available now in SCM v2.5! SCM 2.5 includes a number of new and updated baselines, empowering you to manage configuration...

SCM makes configuration management for both computers and your private cloud a snap! Security Compliance Manager 2 is a free tool from the Microsoft Solution Accelerators team that enables you to quickly configure and manage your computers, traditional...

Identify, classify, and protect data across targeted file servers in your organization The Solution Accelerators team is pleased to announce that the Data Classification Toolkit for Windows Server 2008 R2 is now available for download. Download...

This is a guest blog post by Alan Burchill who is an IT Consultant for over 10 years and a Group Policy MVP. He is also the author of the Group Policy Center web site and you can also follow him on twitter at @alanburchill . Along with the recent release...

I can feel this becoming a FAQ, so I wanted to blog on this early in the Beta . :) I forgot to mention in my Beta announcement anything about the new 'severity' you see on settings, whoops. The text below is a copy and paste from the IE9 Security Guide...

[ UPDATE: September 6th, 2011 ] The Beta review period for SCM2 ended August 31st, 2011 (and the download is no longer available). We've been working on stabilizing the build and meeting release requirements. Look for the RTW of SCM2 on September 15th...

A teammate of mine posted a FAQ this week about the GRC space and how it intersects with Microsoft Baselines. Check it out! http://social.technet.microsoft.com/wiki/contents/articles/grc-baselines-made-easy.aspx -jeff PS - for those of you...

The Microsoft Solution Accelerators Team has a new IT governance, risk, and compliance (IT GRC) Solution Acclerator beta release you should check out. It’s called the the Data Classification Toolkit (DCT) for Windows Server 2008 R2 and it helps...

UPDATE : The SCM v2 CTP has been removed from MS Connect, please download the SCM v2 Beta . Thanks for the patience! -jeff [Jun 27th, 2011] Hello everyone! You’ve all been very patient with the SCM team and I wanted to thank you for that....

Hello SCM people! Yes, I'm way behind on email. Sorry if I owe you a reply! We are DAYS away from releasing the SCM v2 CTP featuring GPO Import. Let me wrap this baby up and you will see it shortly on MS Connect. Thanks for the patience! Check out...

I’ve been heads-down with the SCM Engineering Team the last couple of weeks planning the next release of Security Compliance Manager (SCM) , version 2.0. I’m pretty excited about this release – it is going to take the application / solution...

Hello from the SCM Engineering team here in Redmond/Seattle!! We’ve got another update to Security Compliance Manager (SCM) , this time it is version 1.1.3. J There is only one minor change in this updated version: SCM Import: fixed ability...

Whenever I hear the word wiki I always hear a sound like a DJ scratching a record - wiki wiki. :) I'm happy to announce the SCM team has started an SCM Wiki on TechNet . This is the part of the blog post where I invite you to contribute to...

If you experienced trouble downloading baselines last week , we are very sorry about the trouble! We realized the problem on Tuesday November 23 rd and had a bit of a “snow delay” getting the baselines restored. I am happy to report all is...

If you haven’t heard, Seattle was hit hard by snow and ice yesterday. It took some people up to 10 hours to get home last night . Holy cow! I was lucky – my boss advised I go home yesterday at about 12 noon and I was sitting in my apartment...

Well... I might be exaggerating just a bit about the “peace on Earth”, but it’s a worthy goal isn’t it!? :) I’m writing this post for a couple reasons: 1. Announce an updated version of Microsoft Security Compliance...

Start shifting the enforcement and management of IT GRC requirements from people to Microsoft technologies with the IT GRC Process Management Pack and the IT Compliance Management Series The Microsoft ® Solution Accelerators team is pleased to...

The Solution Accelerators team is happy to announce the most recent additions to the Security Compliance Manager Baseline Beta Review Program: new setting packs for Windows 7 and Internet Explorer 8. Join the Security Compliance Manager Baseline Beta...

The Security Compliance Manager is now available for download! Windows 7 security just got easier. The tool includes support for this and other Microsoft operating systems and applications. Many thanks to those of you who participated in the beta review...

The Solution Accelerators team is pleased to announce the beta release of Microsoft Security Compliance Manager version 1.0, an end-to-end Solution Accelerator to help you plan, deploy, operate, and manage your security baselines for Windows® client and...

I'm super busy preparing the Beta release for Security Compliance Manager (SCM)! I've gotten a lot of mail recently about what exactly is this SCM thing? What does it do? Well, I've shot some cool video discussing the features and benefits. Keep it locked...

Happy New Year from the Security and Compliance team here at Microsoft Solution Accelerators! I haven’t blogged in YEARS! That is changing as of right now. It’s not really a New Year’s resolution so much as a thing I love to do – get involved directly...

To download these extensions, click here . The System Center Configuration Manager Extensions for SCAP are designed for organizations to use with the desired configuration management (DCM) feature in Microsoft® System Center Configuration Manager 2007...