Security is a topic that’s rarely covered in Power Management discussions, but in reality it should be top of the list as more and more services become cloud based and users have access to data from so many diverse sources..
PC Power Management is now generally accepted as a ‘must have’ tool for energy/CO2 and cost saving purposes. In many cases however companies choose products such as1E’s NightWatchman in order to facilitate rebooting computers after critical software updates, or for a myriad of other reasons.
While the proliferation of desktop power management software is a good thing for the planet and IT efficiency in general, companies who deploy the technology often forget the fact that they have just unleashed some pretty powerful software on their user population. Here’s a tool that often runs in the background, can shutdown, reboot and otherwise interfere with thousands of computers.
So what happens if a disgruntled employee decides to ‘shutdown the company’ for a spot of fun? Well happily I can tell you that security is something that has been built into NightWatchman day one. Having worked with some very demanding (i.e. Military) customers who require the most secure software possible on their computers, 1E have designed NightWatchman to be as user friendly and flexible as possible while maintaining security to the highest standard.
Of course anyone can claim that there software is secure, but we can also back this up with some impressive qualification. NightWatchman (and our companion Wake on LAN software Wakeup) have both gained Common Criteria Evaluation Assurance Level 2 (EAL2) Certification. So what does that mean? Our software solutions were evaluated by the Certification Body of the Communications-Electronics Security Group (CESG), the UK’s national technical authority for information assurance, under the terms of the UK IT Security Evaluation and Certification Scheme.
This certification assures our customers that our software has gone through a rigorous analysis and testing process and conforms to standards sanctioned by the International Standards Organization. Common Criteria is an important worldwide security evaluation standard, which is recognized in 26 countries around the world. It provides a clear and reliable evaluation of the security capabilities of IT products.
From a configuration point of view, the flexibility of NightWatchman is one of it’s greatest features. Over the last ten years we have built options into the product to suit most types of working environments (although our customers seem to keep inventing new ones!). In secure environments this means that NightWatchman can work in a completely hands free way to ensure that all computers are shutdown without fail at a predetermined time. This is a requirement in some environments where sensitive user documents or data are being worked on, and systems simply can’t be left running. Of course we can also make sure that any open document is saved before the shutdown takes place, maintaining the integrity of data at all times.
If you are looking into PC Power Management right now, remember that security counts, and that here at 1E we have it covered..
You can view our Common Criteria Evaluation Assurance Report here: https://www.commoncriteriaportal.org/files/epfiles/crp252.pdf