Are you aware of all the devices – USB sticks, CDs, floppies, smartphones, MP3 players, handhelds, iPods, digital cameras – that have been connected to your network? As an administrator, do you know how many employees have been using or are using portable storage devices at the moment? Monitoring your network for these devices is not only time-consuming but nearly impossible to do manually.
Often the weakest link in security is not the technology but the people who use it. The extensive use of portable storage devices on your network can expose it to unintentional and malicious security threats and result in data theft, virus attacks, legal complications and loss of productivity. Knowing what devices are on your network today is the first step towards minimizing these risks.
Good news is now you can actually check what devices are or have been connected to computers in your network and by whom within minutes!
GFi, the famous IT security and productivity solutions provider has created a free web utility called EndPointScan which lets you check what devices are or have been connected to computers in your network and by whom within minutes.
Doesn’t require any configuration or huge installation. Just make sure you visit EndPointScan website using Internet Explorer. Or if you’re using Mozilla Firefox, use IETab. Simply click on the Scan my network! button and it’ll ask if if you want to scan a single computer, a range of computers or list of computers.
If this is the first time you are using GFI EndPointScan, an ActiveX control (0.7MB) must be downloaded and installed on your computer. Select ‘Yes‘ when prompted to download this control.
Once a scan is completed, GFI EndPointScan will display scan results in a graphical report. The report includes device usage, device threat level and computer risk level. The information presented refers to devices connected both currently and historically.
Only Windows 2000, XP and 2003 is supported. Windows 95, 98 and NT is NOT supported. If you’re having trouble installing ActiveX, just set your Internet Explorer security settings to Medium. You will need administrator rights and privileges to set Internet security settings and execute EndPointScan.
You can only scan your network for free and that’s it. If you want to do more such as controlling network access of portable storage devices and drives, such as USB drives, iPods and PDAs, you have to purchase GFi EndPointSecurity which is quite expensive. I believe this is the reason why GFi made EndPointScan available for free. Anyway, it’s still a good online utility to scan network for devices. It’s quite similar to what USBDeview can do.