Secure your environment with SCM 3.0! The Security Compliance Manager (SCM) is a free tool from the Microsoft Solution Accelerators team that enables you to quickly configure and manage the computers in your environment and your private cloud using Group Policy and Microsoft ® System Center Configuration...

The Data Classification Toolkit for Windows Server 8 Beta (DCT) review period will soon close, but there is still time to participate. Thanks to all of you who have already downloaded the beta release and provided us with your feedback. Your input helps us to improve the quality of the final DCT release...

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 of controls to satisfy authority document requirements...

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 drift, address compliance requirements, and...

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 datacenter, and private cloud using Group Policy...

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 of the Security Compliance Manager v2 Beta...

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 which hopefully clarifies our reasoning. [ UPDATE...

[ 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, 2011. Hello world! I know a lot of you have...

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 wanting the SCM v2 Beta, I've got great news. Just...

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 organizations consistently identify, classify, and...

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. I’ve received (literally) hundreds of emails...

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 this awesome SCM video. It's great as an intro as...

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 to the next level. As I’ve mentioned...

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 it - because that's the real value of a wiki (wiki...

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 now well (and all the snow/ice in Seattle has melted...

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 in downtown Seattle with hot spiced cider as I watched...

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 Manager (SCM) 2. Discuss the SCM roadmap for the...

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 Review Program. Members, bookmark this link...