Not AdminStudio content, but of interest to those that work in AdminStudio, I offer the below video shared as my general session from the 2021 App Manage Event where I discuss the following topics... The importance of packaging today MSIX: Why and why not Windows 11 packaging The SaaS take over Patch catalogs Vulnerability management Endpoint management Repackaging Wrapping .Scripting   ... View more

Check our summary of vulnerability data from November 2021! You'll see a decrease in the number of vulnerabilities reported as compared to last month. However, there's been an increase in the number of threats associated with these vulnerabilities. The total advisories published was 500 (down from 526 last month). There was also a slight increase in Extremely Critical Vulnerabilities at 3 (up from 2 last month). ... View more

We are happy to announce that a new version of the Software Vulnerability Manager is now available. By design, this does not include any of the ActiveX-dependant capabilities so we encourage you to see our FAQ for details.  Some minor fixes were also included, to see the full release notes, visit https://docs.flexera.com/csi/2021November/rn/Content/helplibrary/SVMCloudRN.htm  ... View more

How do I access the new UI? What browsers are supported by the new UI? What are some new features of the new UI? What limitations are associated with the new UI? Can I still use the old UI? Why would I want to use the old UI? What if I am using Single Sign On for SVM? Should I change my agent and patch daemon connections? Where can I share my feedback regarding the new UI? What Should I Expect from Future Versions of the Patch Daemon (SVM Patch Publisher)?      How do I access the new UI? Using your existing credentials, navigate to https://svm.flexera.com   What browsers are supported by the new UI? All modern browsers are supported. However, if using Internet Explorer, please keep in mind that the ActiveX plug-in is not supported here. For dependent features like patching, it is necessary to either use the old UI with the ActiveX plug-in, or to use the new SVM Patch Publisher tool (separate from the web-based admin console).   What are some new features of the new UI? Apart from looking better, when you select a menu item it will open a new tab making it easy to jump between views.   What limitations are associated with the new UI? Patching and Software Suggestions are not planned as capabilities of the new admin console and will be handled via the SVM Patch Publisher going forward. Specifically, the following features are not supported by the new web console. This is due to a reliance on ActiveX which we are moving away from by enhancing the SVM Patch Publisher to take on such needs. Patching will be addressed first, other features will follow, some capabilities (like Quick Scan) may be deprecated.   Patching – the creation of templates, patches, and the publishing of patches Software Suggestions – the ability to suggest new software for assessment Quick scan – the ability to initiate the scan of an endpoint from the browser SCCM import – the ability to perform an assessment based on SCCM inventory data   Can I still use the old UI? Yes, the UI you know, and love remains available and supported at https://csi7.secunia.com/csi/ We will be continuing to support this version of the user interface, at least until the functionality of the new SVM Patch Publisher reaches a stage where it can handle the features currently dependent on this version of the User Interface and its ActiveX plug-in.   Why would I want to use the old UI? If you wish to leverage the existing functionality which depends upon our ActiveX plug-in, like patching, you may want to stick with the older user interface. The capabilities of the SVM Patch Publisher as an alternative to the older user interface will evolve over the months to come. Please continue to check in and monitor this progress as we work to reach a point where the use of the older UI is no longer necessary but displaced by a superior user experience with the SVM Patch Publisher.   What if I am using Single Sign-On for SVM? SSO can only be configured for one of the two user interfaces, the new UI or the old one. Therefore, if you leverage SVM for patching and the SVM Patch Publisher does not meet your needs in its current form, you may wish to continue with the older user interface a bit longer. We will be making regular updates to the SVM Patch Publisher in an effort to reduce (and eventually eliminate) the need for the older UI in the months ahead.   Should I change my agent and patch daemon connections? No. The agent and Patch Daemon (and SVM Patch Publisher) will continue to communicate using the older URL, so no change is necessary. If and when we do require changes to the Patch Daemon, SVM Patch Publisher, or agent communication, we will be sure to provide plenty of notice. Please watch product release notes and subscribe to our Release Blog to help ensure you don’t miss any such announcements.   Where can I share my feedback regarding the new UI? We encourage conversations in our community forum or specific enhancement requests via our Ideas portal.   What Should I Expect from Future Versions of the Patch Daemon (SVM Patch Publisher)? We intend to continually improve and enhance the SVM Patch Publisher to provide a superior user experience as compared to the ActiveX plug-in of our older web-based admin console. As a priority, we will initially focus on handling all patching use cases in the SVM Patch Publisher. Other ActiveX-dependent features like Software Suggestions will also be addressed in future updates to eventually remove any need for our older UI with ActiveX. When the SVM Patch Publisher has evolved to such a state, we will communicate an end-of-life plan for the older user interface. Our next release of the SVM Patch Publisher is planned for early December and will introduce the ability to assign patches to groups when publishing to Workspace ONE. The ability to create and edit patches (and also to view Smart Group results) is currently planned for release in Q1 2022.   ... View more

With this update, new date filters have been added to the below APIs. API DATE FILTERS API DATE FILTER DESCRIPTION /api/vendors/ created_gte Unix timestamp for the vendor create date, filter type greater than or equal (seconds) created_lt Unix timestamp for the vendor create date, filter type less than (seconds) /api/products/ created_gte Unix timestamp for the product create date, filter type greater than or equal (seconds) created_lt Unix timestamp for the product create date, filter type less than (seconds) /api/asset-lists/ created_gte Unix timestamp for the watch list create date, filter type greater than or equal (seconds) created_lt Unix timestamp for the watch list create date, filter type less than (seconds) /api/asset-lists-subscriptions/ created_gte Unix timestamp for the asset list subscription create date, filter type greater than or equal (seconds) created_lt Unix timestamp for the asset list subscription create date, filter type less than (seconds) /api/asset-list-groups/ created_gte Unix timestamp for the asset list group create date, filter type greater than or equal (seconds) created_lt Unix timestamp for the asset list group create date, filter type less than (seconds) /api/fnms-products/ created_gte Unix timestamp for the fnms product create date, filter type greater than or equal (seconds) created_lt Unix timestamp for the fnms product create date, filter type less than (seconds) /api/product-fullversion/ created_gte Unix timestamp for the product version create date, filter type greater than or equal (seconds) created_lt Unix timestamp for the product version create date, filter type less than (seconds) /api/historic-advisories/ release_gte Unix timestamp for the advisory release date, filter type greater than or equal (seconds) release_lt Unix timestamp for the advisory release date, filter type less than (seconds) /api/patch/patchable-products/ created_gte Unix timestamp for the patchable product create date, filter type greater than or equal (seconds) created_lt Unix timestamp for the patchable product create date, filter type less than (seconds) /api/patch/package created_gte Unix timestamp for the package create date, filter type greater than or equal (seconds) created_lt Unix timestamp for the package create date, filter type less than (seconds) Release Notes ... View more

Since its announcement in 2018, AdminStudio has been introducing more and more MSIX capabilities alongside new and innovative features that together make for an indispensable solution. We introduced a suitability reporting capability just weeks after its initial announcement in 2018 Repackager supports the creation and signing of MSIX packages from other package formats Our Automated Application Converter (AAC) was updated to support the conversion of MSI/EXE packages to MSIX in bulk by spinning up virtual machines for automated packaging First ConfigManager, then Intune, AdminStudio supports the publishing of MSIX packages for deployment InstallShield provided support for creating MSIX packages from MSI projects, then added a dedicated project type for MSIX, and has introduced several iterative updates to achieve great support for MSIX We also developed a dedicated MSIX editor aimed specifically at IT Pros—no project file necessary, you can directly edit MSIX files and save them directly, as a package or as a modification package. It can sign, trace, inject PSF fixups, and much more You can easily create App Attach image files in support of Azure Virtual Desktop in either VHD of VHDX file formats At the same time, new innovative features have been introduced that make all of the above even better. The Package Feed Module provides validated silent installation details to help automate AAC. And you can now subscribe to applications so that as soon as a new version of a product is released by a vendor, it can be downloaded, imported, tested, converted to MSIX format, and published to endpoint management systems like ConfigMan, Intune, Workspace ONE and more. In the short video below, I walk through the state of MSIX and the many features outlined above to support such in AdminStudio. ... View more

Welcome to our October vulnerability insights report. This comprehensive, monthly review is based upon data from the Secunia Research Team at Flexera who produces valuable advisories leveraged by our Software Vulnerability Research and Software Vulnerability Manager solutions. With so much data, there are endless ways to look at it. One way we are speculating might be of value is a report which shows a calculated weight by multiplying values for Attack Vector, Criticality, Threat Score, and CVSS Score. The calculation may be debatable, but looking at the top of the list, it could help surface some notable listings... Let us know what you think, or if you have any other suggestions on how to best review this valuable security data! ... View more

Some big things are happening with Software Vulnerability Manager. We are both working to improve the admin console with an updated user interface while also working to eliminate the need for ActiveX to perform certain actions. A big effort, we are intending to iterate with continual improvements and enhancements with an eye on making the transition as smooth as possible.  Here’s what to expect: New User Interface A new user interface is coming along nicely and is currently scheduled to be generally available in October. We’d love to show it to you and get feedback sooner, so please reach out to schedule a session if you are interested! The new user interface is designed to work on all modern browsers and does away with the need for Internet Explorer and its ActiveX support. However, to do so means removing certain features from the admin console and supporting them instead in our SVM Patch Publisher tool.   Introducing SVM Patch Publisher The Patch Daemon is taking on enough new responsibilities that we’ve decided to rebrand it as the SVM Patch Publisher. With an eye on backward compatibility, the transition should be pretty seamless but there are some early improvements to highlight and more planned in the months ahead. The first thing you’ll notice is a completely revamped user interface. With the SVM Patch Publisher, you can specify connections to multiple distribution platforms and instances. For example, you could add a connection to both WSUS and Intune whereas previously such would have required two running instances of the Patch Daemon. When creating a connection, you can provide your own name and that name will appear in the web admin console as an option when publishing a patch.   Later this year we are planning to provide the ability to create and edit patches within the SVM Patch Publisher. Until then this and other ActiveX dependent functionality will continue to require the older admin console running Internet Explorer as has long been required. We will continue to focus on improving the SVM Patch Publisher by adding additional functionality with the goal of eliminating the need for ActiveX so we can fully retire the older admin console user interface entirely. Note: Microsoft support for ActiveX remains via the Edge browser’s IE Mode feature. On-Prem Customers We will be supporting the new user interface and SVM Patch Publisher for not just cloud customers but for our on-premises customers as well. As usual, we will release updates for on-prem following our cloud release. For now, on-prem customers must continue using the existing Patch Daemon but plan to update on-prem to support it in December. During this transition period, we’ll be offering two SVM Toolkit downloads for on-prem and cloud to reduce any confusion over which should be used. Flexera Software Vulnerability Manager Cloud Toolkit – this installer provides offline utilities such as the Multi-partition Reporting Tool, WSUS Management Tool, and Client Data Tool which are provided as helpful tools to add value to your SVM investment. Flexera Software Vulnerability Manager On-prem Toolkit – this installer provides everything above as well as the Patch Daemon.   Software Vulnerability Manager Patch Publisher – for cloud customers only, we are providing the SVM Patch Publisher as a stand-alone installer. Note: Once on-prem supports the SVM Patch Publisher, we’ll drop the “On Prem” download for the SVM Toolkit and will again offer a single download for the Toolkit (and another for SVM Publisher). Other updates include Windows environment variable support for scan paths and a new setting to control Java assessment. For details, please see Release Notes  ... View more

AdminStudio has evolved beyond that of a repackaging suite helping to increase the speed and quality of preparing security and feature updates for deployment. Like no other solution on the market, it addresses the critical need of providing packages not just for Windows migrations but for the ongoing need to update and deploy applications on an almost constant basis. The video below highlights the significant demand for packages and AdminStudio's comprehensive ability to completely cover such needs.   To better focus on AdminStudio as a complete and comprehensive packaging solution, we no longer provide a few of the tools from the suite on their own, as we did previously with AdminStudio Standard Edition. We have priced AdminStudio Professional as a more competitively priced subscription to help ensure all can enjoy these impactful benefits. Don't hesitate to get in touch with your sales representative with any questions.   ... View more