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The MSS: settings used to be here...

I recently got involved in a project where I defined the Baseline Security settings for windows and Linux. I used the settings provided by the Center for Internet Security (CIS).

We decided on the following approach:

• Based on the CIS templates we created a baseline document specific to our company
• I, in my security role, created a Nessus .audit file, so we could audit compliance to our own baseline with Seccubus
• The windows administrator created GPOs to apply the settings.

When creating in the GPOs we did a strange discovery. In a windows the settings that are normally marked as MSS: in the category Computer Configuration\Windows Settings\Security Settings\Local Policies\Security Options do not appear in a domain if its functional level is Windows 2008.

This made us wonder, have these setting become irrelevant ? If this is not the case, how can we still set them, preferably via group policy?

The settings are not irrelevant, as e.g. Peter van Eeckhoutte’s blog points out. Windows 2008 does not forward IPv4 packets that have source routing on them,  but it does accept them if the machine is the final destination. However for IPv6 Windows 2008 will forward these packets by default.

So if the settings are not irrelevant, how can we apply them if they are not in the Group Policy Editor? For this purpose we created an .adm file, which can be loaded into the Group Policy editor as a Classic Administrative template. Read more…

From: http://bink.nu/news/windows-7-windows-server-2008-rtm-set-for-july-13th.aspx

4 days earlier then I had in my previous schedule, Microsoft has now set July 13th for RTM “sign-off”

Sign off is the process where all divisions sign that they agree on the final code, which means the actual RTM build will be created a few days earlier, which is targeted on July 10th.

The general availability (GA) is set to October 22nd, this is when you can buy it in stores in a box or on new PC’s (OEM).

We can expect the RTM much earlier on MSDN, Technet and Volume Licensing download sites, probably a few days after July 13th.