by AF1013c5 — October 15, 2008—Many organizations would like to keep their network users from adding unauthorized software to their desktops, and the US Army is no different. Since early this year, the US Army Information Management Support Center, which supports the Pentagon staff, has deployed software on about 11,000 desktop machines that watches for unauthorized applications.
If one is discovered, the monitoring software reports back so an Army oversight group called the Configuration Control Board, which lets the user also know about the discovery so a decision can be made about whether the application should be allowed. If there’s no justification for using the software, the unauthorized application can be automatically deleted remotely.
According to John Brehm, senior systems engineer at Serco, a systems integration firm aiding the Army in this program, the goal is to identify unauthorized applications and enforce policy while giving users the opportunity to explain why the software is on their desktop.
While users have the opportunity to defend use of unofficial, unauthorized applications, decisions have been made to delete the unwanted applications remotely. “You just flip a switch,” Serco’s Brehm says. “We’ve removed a couple of thousand cases since February.”
For more information, visit the Serco Web site as well as the company’s ad on FMLink .
