ScriptLogic took advantage of the Microsoft Exchange Connections show in Las Vegas this week to announce the availability of its latest version of Security Explorer, a graphical solution for real-time management of access controls and security for Windows environments. Security Explorer is available in a modular design; you can select from modules that protect Windows servers, Windows workstations, SharePoint, and SQL Server. New in Security Explorer 7.0 is a module to provide Exchange Server permissions management and other Exchange management features.
Microsoft has built permissions into Exchange for specific levels of control, but the native permissions management procedures aren’t necessarily user-friendly or easy to access. Security Explorer for Exchange aims to bring these permissions to the forefront and provide granular control over how they’re applied. Additionally, you can run searches and reports to easily see who in your organization has permissions for what.
Referring to the native permissions controls in Exchange, Nick Cavalancia, vice president for Windows management at ScriptLogic, said, “We’re simply taking the cover off that and giving a view into those permissions—which we actually think is important from a compliance standpoint as well as a security standpoint since organizations are now subject to compliance rules within the context of their email. Knowing who has rights to be able to then get into that email becomes a subject of compliance as well. Having that ability to demonstrate that the environment is secure from a permissions standpoint is important.”
Security Explorer for Exchange can clone permissions from one account to another, making provisioning accounts much simpler. You can manage Exchange and Active Directory permissions in one interface. The Exchange module also gives you the ability to backup and restore permissions separately from other data, which could prove to be a valuable security feature. Mailbox and public folder management from Security Explorer for Exchange is done through the server, with no need to go into the end user’s version of Outlook.
“The concept of the permissions management and bringing the permissions to the forefront, and being able to search and so on—that’s something that’s inherent to the concept of Security Explorer,” Cavalancia said. “So when we have Security Explorer for SharePoint and for SQL \[Server\] and for Windows servers, and so on, the idea is that it does the exact same thing but for those types of environments." You can see some screenshots from Security Explorer 7.0 in the short video below.
Cavalancia’s background is in Exchange, so he knows a bit about how Exchange administrators work: “There’s still the truth that an admin is not a developer,” Cavalancia said. “If they can find the script they need they’ll use it. . . . But more than likely they’re so pressed for time, if they can’t find what they need, they’re just going to do it the old-fashioned way and move on. They don’t have the time to go and learn, let’s say PowerShell, in order to get their work accomplished.”
ScriptLogic is primarily focused on the small-to-midsized business (SMB) market, though Cavalancia said the company’s solutions are quite scalable, too. “We try to come up with solutions that are easy to download, easy to implement, immediately usable, and make the admin productive,” Cavalancia said.
One further way the company is trying to make things easy on admins is in the budget department—which is certainly welcome in the current economy. ScriptLogic is offering Archive Manager, Quest MessageStats, and Security Explorer for Exchange together in its Exchange Management Solution, a discounted bundle for a comprehensive approach to Exchange management. ScriptLogic is a subsidiary of Quest Software, making this a natural combination.
For more information about ScriptLogic and Security Explorer, visit the company’s website.
ScriptLogic Security Explorer 7.0 screenshots:
