Fix Security Vulnerabilities with Microsoft Baseline Security Analyzer 2.1

Microsoft Baseline Security Analyzer 2.1 or MSBA 2.1 is a must-have utility for those concerned with the safety of their computer. It’s a great tool for those with networks or small businesses, because it also allows you to scan for vulnerabilities across the computers on your network. Basically what it does is detect common security misconfigurations, missing security updates, and any options that have been set that may be of interest, which I will explain later on.

Download MSBA 2.1 Here

Once you download the program, it is actually really straight-forward and easy to use
But if you would like to learn about how to scan other computers in your network or how to access the security report generated, feel free to continue reading!

a

Evaluating a Security Report:

The Security Report is very detailed and effective in presenting information. Let’s take a look at how to use the information to imrpove your computer’s security. The program even tells you how to fix the problems so it shouldn’t be very difficult. Below I will just list my interpretation of the issues listed:

User Accounts (Admin / Guest):
Do not overlook this detail, and make sure you are aware of the number of Admin accounts on your computer. If there are more than you know about, this may suggest somebody is accessing your computer without you knowing it. As for the Guest account, you may disable it if you are the only one using the computer. I leave it enabled so my family members can use my computer when I’m not there without accessing my files.

Automatic Updates:
If you want to be protected from the latest risks, this should be enabled. However, I do not have this enabled because I have had issues with my Sound Card and Video Card when installing the drivers recommended through Windows Update. Also, Vista insists their drivers are newer even though I am using beta video card drivers. To prevent them from automatically installing their drivers over mine, I leave automatic installation disabled and just respond immediately when I see the bubble in the right corner alerting me to update. I don’t suggest enabling auto-install if you’ve had driver issues with your hardware.

Windows Firewall:
If Windows Firewall is not enabled on all connections, click on “How to Correct This.” If the problem still persists, go to your Firewall settings, click on the Advanced Tab, and ensure all connections are checked.

As for the other categories, they are pretty straight forward. If you have any questions feel free to ask me in the forum.

How to Scan a Network of Computers:
First you need to determine the “Domain Name” or the IP Range you want to scan. If you’re a network administrator, you should already know the this type of information or have your own method of doing this, so you won’t need to read the rest of the guide.
If you do know the “Domain Name” that’s great! But if you don’t know, I’m only going to explain how to find the IP range because I’ve had a lot of problems with Windows Vista and Network Domain Names.

What’s an IP address?
In case you don’t know what an IP is, it’s an address assigned to every computer so that it can be identified.

Moving on…
First ensure that all computers are on, and logged onto their administrator account. Now before we do anything drastic, your list of IPs probably start at 192.168.1.100 and end at 192.168.1.126
First, put that in and see if it works. If it works, then you’re good to go!
If it doesn’t, you’re going to have to actually log into your router and find out.

First, open the Start Menu, type cmd in the Search bar, and press Enter. Once Command Prompt is open, type

ipconfig

Look for default gateway and write it down. Then open your internet browser, and type it in. This will take you to your router settings.

The router I’m using is a Linksys WRT54G v8. You might have a different kind of router or firmware, but the steps should be very similar.

First, look for a Status button or tab. Next, you want to click on LAN or DHCP Clients, or a button that will display all the computers connected to the network.

You should get something that looks like this:

Now you know what the IP range is. Simply take the lowest numbered IP and the largest one, and input it into the IP range boxes and you should be good to go.

Still need help? Check out our new forums where you can get an even faster and better response!

This entry was posted on Monday, October 6th, 2008 at 8:00 am and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.