Authorization Objects

These inspectors retrieve security and access settings.

access control list

An Access Control List, or ACL, is a list of security protections that applies to an object. An object can be a file, process, event, or anything else having a security descriptor. An entry in an access control list (ACL) is an access control entry (ACE). These Inspectors work by exposing the GetEffectiveRightsFromAcl method, as explained at the MSDN site. Note: Requires Windows XP, Windows 2000 Professional, or Windows NT Workstation 3.1 and later.

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access control entry

An Access Control Entity, or ACE, is an entry in an access control list (ACL). An ACE contains a set of access rights and a security identifier (SID) that identifies a trustee for whom the rights are allowed, denied, or audited.

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system access control list

The <system access control list> Inspectors retrieve information from the access control list that controls the generation of audit messages for attempts to access a securable object. The ability to get or set an object's SACL is controlled by a privilege typically held only by system administrators.

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discretionary access control list

The <discretionary access control list> Inspectors retrieve information from the access control list that is monitored by the owner of the object and specifies what kinds of access particular users or groups can have to the specified object.

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security account

The <security account> type serves as a base type for the "user" and "local group" types and for properties common to users and groups.

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security descriptor

The <security descriptor> objects are structures and associated data that contain the security information for a securable object. A security descriptor identifies the object's owner and primary group. It can also contain a DACL that controls access to the object, and a SACL that controls the logging of attempts to access the object.

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security identifier

A Security Identifier, or SID, is a data structure that identifies user, group, and computer accounts. Every account on a network is issued a unique SID when the account is first created. Internal processes in Windows refer to an account's SID rather than the account's user or group name.

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security database

The <security database> Inspectors retrieve information from the security accounts manager (SAM) database or, in the case of domain controllers, the Active Directory. The Security database and its properties expose the NetUserModalsGet API, levels 0 and 3. For more information, see the NetUserModalsGet Function at the MSDN site: http://msdn.microsoft.com.

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audit policy

The <audit policy> Inspectors return the policies put in place for recording information about security-related operations on the client computer. For example, you can set a policy to monitor the modification of files. This will trigger an audit entry showing whenever a file is modified, the associated user account, and the date and time of the action. You can audit both successful and failed attempts at actions. Often, the failed attempts are more interesting, as they may indicate attempts to unsuccessfully subvert a policy. For instance, a successful login is not as interesting as a repeated failure might be.

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audit policy category

Windows audit policies, as of Vista and later, are divided into categories. Currently there are 9 categories, including System, Logon/Logoff, Object Access, Privilege Use, Detailed Tracking, Policy Change, Account Management, DS Access and Account Logon.

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audit policy subcategory

Windows audit policy categories, as of Vista and later, are divided into about 50 subcategories. This level of granularity is designed to narrow in on specific security-related operations on the client computer, helping to filter out the normal noise of an active environment.

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audit policy information

The <audit policy information> Inspectors return the two attributes of the audit policy for a given subcategory: whether or not succesful operations will be audited ("audit success"), and whether or not unsuccessful operations will be audited ("audit failure").

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cryptography

This is a global object that has several properties that expose the state of the cryptography controls. BigFix uses cryptographic functions throughout the BigFix Platform. Every time an operator logs in to BigFix, creates a new user, starts an action or subscribes to new content, authentication and signature routines are executed using cryptographic libraries based on the FIPS 140-2 standard.

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client_cryptography

The <client_cryptography> Inspectors expose cryptographic properties exclusive to the client.

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Declaration	Description	Platforms (?)
client cryptography	This Inspector is similar to the core cryptography object except that it returns properties exclusive to the client (whereas <cryptography> is also available in the Console/Web Reports contexts).	Win, Lin, Sol, HPUX, AIX, Mac, WM, Ubu:8.1

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desired encrypt report of <client_cryptography>	<boolean> Plural: desired encrypt reports	Returns TRUE if the client is configured to attempt to encrypt reports.	Win, Lin, Sol, HPUX, AIX, Mac, WM, Ubu:8.1
encrypt report failure message of <client_cryptography>	<string> Plural: encrypt report failure messages	If the client is not successfully encrypting reports, this Inspector returns the failure message.	Win, Lin, Sol, HPUX, AIX, Mac, WM, Ubu:8.1
encrypt report of <client_cryptography>	<boolean> Plural: encrypt reports	Returns TRUE if the client is successfully encrypting reports.	Win, Lin, Sol, HPUX, AIX, Mac, WM, Ubu:8.1

x509 certificate

X.509 is a public key infrastructure standard, specifying formats for public key certificates and revocations. These Inspectors interpret the certificate from a file in the PEM format. They can be used to analyze encryption credentials on decrypting relays or root servers.

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pem encoded certificate of <file>	Reads and returns the certificate from a file in the PEM format. This can be used to analyze encryption credentials on decrypting relays or root servers.	Win, WM
encryption certificate of <license>	Provides the encryption certificate that is currently active and which will be used by clients to encrypt reports.	Win, Lin, Sol, HPUX, AIX, Mac, WM, Ubu:8.1

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invalid before of <x509 certificate>	<time> Plural: invalid befores	Returns the date on which the certificate first becomes valid. This is useful for examining encryption certificates, where the 'invalid before date' is the time when the encryption credentials were generated.	Win, Lin, Sol, HPUX, AIX, Mac, WM, Ubu:8.1
sha1 of <x509 certificate>	<string> Plural: sha1s	Returns the SHA1 hash of the given certificate, which uniquely identifies it.	Win, Lin, Sol, HPUX, AIX, Mac, WM, Ubu:8.1

local group

The <local group> Inspectors return information on local groups as defined on the local BES Client computer using the windows NetLocalGroupEnum API, one of Windows Network Management Functions. Local groups have names, comments, members and security IDs.

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local group member

The <local group member> Inspectors return information (such as security IDs) on members of local groups as defined on the local BES Client computer using the windows NetLocalGroupEnum API, one of Windows Network Management Functions.

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Terminology

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