Remote Automatic Test Equipment software management - Information Assurance Vulnerability Alert management

Information Assurance Vulnerability Alerts (lAVAs) have become an important part of protecting and securing our systems. Operating systems and their applications are all susceptible to bugs/problems that need to be fixed. Virus definitions, which are released daily, are another important piece of IAVA compliance. IAVA updates are released almost weekly to ensure the integrity of the operation systems and its applications. Systems that are already fielded need to be updated with these approved IAVA updates. These fielded systems aren´t always connected to the World Wide Web, so obtaining updates on their own isn´t a viable option. They are however, connected to approved servers. A service was needed to obtain these updates on a weekly basis with little user interaction. A user reboot of the system might be needed to ensure that the updates take effect. For the most part the update service is free from user interaction. The application could also be run manually at a fielded site if needed. An application with Secure File Transfer Portocol (SFTP) capabilities was used to solve this problem and keep the remote, fielded, systems up to date with the latest IAVA patches. The remote systems are able to connect to the SFTP server, download the approved IAVA updates and install them all without user intervention. The remote computer might need to be rebooted for some of the IAVA patches, but this can be done at the user´s convenience. The download and installation status are kept in a log file and database on the remote computer for future reference. If an IAVA patch fails during installation it is marked in the database as an attempted install and another attempt will be made to install it during the next automated update. During the next update this failed patch will be redownloaded and reinstalled. If this process fails a total of three times, it will be marked as failed and no more attempts to download or install will be made. Some updates require a reboot but this is- - not done automatically for fear that it could possibly affect a user that is currently using the system. Newly fielded sites already have all the latest patches, they are updated before being sent out, so the application could be run manually to update the database accordingly reflecting that the patches have already been installed. The ability to manually connect to SFTP server and download the updates was also necessary, in case we needed the updates sooner than the weekly update. Consolidated Automated Support System (CASS) Operations Management Software (OMS) contains this update service for the Navy and Marine CASS ATE and all of this functionally is needed to keep our systems secure/protected and up-to-date with the latest security patches. This paper will provide an overview of how we provide these IAVA updates to our clients.