Security Compliance Manager Version 2.5 Update

A beta update has appeared for Security Compliance Manager (SCM). SCM is a free tool for managing security settings that lets organizations centrally plan, view, update, and export hundreds of Group Policy settings for the latest Microsoft client and server OSs and applications. The SCM 2.5 beta, released in Jan. 2012, adds coverage of Exchange Server and updates features for some Windows and Office products.

New and Updated Baselines

SCM is designed to be used with Microsoft’s documented library of sets of security settings (baselines) with recommended settings for Windows client and server OSs, Office, and Internet Explorer. SCM helps authorized users customize the provided baselines and save them as company standards. Users can then export the standards to Excel spreadsheets or Group Policy Objects, to be applied using an organization’s policy deployment tools, or export them to System Center Configuration Manager’s Desired Configuration Management Packs or Security Content Automation Protocol files.