ManageSoftRET$ and mgsRET$ shared folders violates customer's security

[patrik_sliacky]

Hello,

due to customer security rules we are about to remove ManageSoftRET$ and mgsRET$ shared folders from our beacon servers as per the same recommendations found in the community [e.g. here]. But I would like to confirm few points before:

1. mentioned shared folders are used in 2 cases "for remote execution activities including adoption of inventory devices (automated installation of the FlexNet inventory agent) and zero footprint inventory collection by the inventory beacon."
   • Our design consists of FlexNet Inventory Agent app installed manually on production servers, FlexNet Beacon app on beacon servers and one FNMS cloud server on top of that. If I understand correctly - this case is none of above mentioned 2 cases for which shared folders are applied?
2. for the start I used just "Stop Sharing" via Computer Management > System Tools > Shared Folders > Shares. Is this sharing enabled back by either beacon policy update or upgrade of beacon itself?
   
   
3. The same question as in point 2. applies for scenario when I manually remove these folders. I expect only reinstallation of FlexNet Beacon app might bring back the folders as per default setup and so they can be removed within post-installation steps. 

Please confirm or correct me if I'm wrong.
Thanks!

[JeffVoss · Accepted solution]

You will need to remove them from the Local Security Policy of the machines as well. Note removing them Local Security Policy settings for anonymous connections will generally clear your security teams scans of the the machines by itself. 

And yes, every beacon upgrade until now has required that the Local Security Policy be re-updated. 

You only loose any activity where the remote device needs to run the code from the remote devices local account from the  network location. You can still do VMWare and Oracle inventories from the beacon. 

Jeff