Changing the paradigm of how customers inventory, patch, and manage all of their systems is no small feat. Making that process easy and beautiful at the same time…that’s where I come in =). I and the rest of the Automox team are excited to share with you how managing your patching and compliance will simply never be the same. We have been talking to customers and prospects gathering their feedback over the last 4 months and we have put just about all of it to work in Automox Version 3. Let’s jump in!
There are two areas of feedback that stood out to us as critical that we address immediately:
- The current system should provide more guidance on how to quickly set up an effective patching strategy
- Customers really wanted to have more real-time information about what the system was doing at any given point. What patches are being deployed, success rates, etc….
On-Boarding
Automox should provide immediate value. And while the feedback we received was encouraging in that the product performs as it says it does, there was some user angst about being in the dark as to what is happening in real time. We realized we needed to reimagine the on-boarding process.
We now guide new users step by step through the addition of systems and setting up your first patch policies for those systems. By the time the user exits the 3 step on-boarding process all of the systems they’ve added will have a patch policy created and applied to them. If you’re evaluating Automox or already a customer you can find the onboarding wizard on your dashboard in the left navigation list.
Experienced users can opt-out of the on-boarding process, but we recommend you give it a try if you have any hesitation whatsoever in setting up new systems. The whole process is quick and easy with only 5-10 clicks required to go from start to finish.
This new system onboarding process is also available in a “lite version” and will be presented to remind users of the steps and keep the experience consistent. These wizards are only a click away and make the assignment of groups and policies a snap.
Dashboard
In order to provide increased visibility to what the platform is doing at any given moment, and provide more control to the end user, we have completely rebuilt the dashboard with a more intuitive interface. The upcoming changes will:
- Indicate with certainty what state every systems is in. To help with this we have separate categories for systems that are awaiting patch approval, those that are approved and scheduled for patching, those that are up to date, and those that need extra attention.
- Make data accessible at a glance while also providing the ability to drill down into specific details and take immediate actions. To that end, you can quickly visualize your full infrastructure and the different states it is in, from the main center chart. Clicking any of these segments will quickly drill down to give you a quick look at those devices, so you can approve patches, reschedule patch windows, run reports, or explore device details further.
- Enable end user control for outlier devices. No plan, no matter how well conceived, survives intact when exposed to day-to-day corporate infrastructure usage. There’s always edge cases, test boxes, dev rigs, conference room PCs, and other exceptions to the rule. To accommodate these devices we’ve added an exceptions group where you can monitor outlier devices so that they’re not forgotten, while at the same time, not impacting your compliance reporting or statistics. You’ll want these devices to exist in your system from a monitoring standpoint, but not throwing errors and causing confusion in your compliance reporting.
What’s Coming
We’re just getting started. We have a plethora of new improvements lined up for the Automox platform. Up next, we’re continuing to make the assignment and management of groups and policies much simpler and more straightforward.
We’re also going to help you distribute software across your network to cut down on time spent imaging new devices. Alternatively, there are occasions when software that you don’t want on your network finds its way in, we’re also going to give you the ability to stymie these applications before they can impact security. IT admins can use Automox to blacklist software so that as soon as it’s discovered, it’s automatically removed from the device.
We’re also bringing additional reports, activity monitoring, advanced scheduling, and more in the coming months. We’ll keep you updated with additional blog posts, documentation, and articles that provide detail around each of our new features as we get closer to their release.
About Automox
Facing growing threats and a rapidly expanding attack surface, understaffed and alert-fatigued organizations need more efficient ways to eliminate their exposure to vulnerabilities. Automox is a modern cyber hygiene platform that closes the aperture of attack by more than 80% with just half the effort of traditional solutions.
Cloud-native and globally available, Automox enforces OS & third-party patch management, security configurations, and custom scripting across Windows, Mac, and Linux from a single intuitive console. IT and SecOps can quickly gain control and share visibility of on-prem, remote and virtual endpoints without the need to deploy costly infrastructure.
Experience modern, cloud-native patch management today with a 15-day free trial of Automox and start recapturing more than half the time you're currently spending on managing your attack surface. Automox dramatically reduces corporate risk while raising operational efficiency to deliver best-in-class security outcomes, faster and with fewer resources.
