Configure Vulnerability Assessment Settings

Applies To: WatchGuard Advanced EPDR This topic applies to the WatchGuard Advanced EPDR endpoint security product., WatchGuard EPDR This topic applies to the WatchGuard EPDR endpoint security product., WatchGuard EDR This topic applies to the WatchGuard EDR endpoint security product., WatchGuard EPP This topic applies to the WatchGuard EPP endpoint security product.

Vulnerability Assessment finds computers on the network with known software vulnerabilities and helps you identify devices that could be susceptible to malicious attacks. It compares the patches installed on computers in your network to a database of all updates released by software vendors and identifies any computers that run vulnerable operating systems or software.

We recommend that you upgrade to Patch Management to create and schedule tasks to install available patches and updates. For information on the patches supported by Vulnerability Assessment and Patch Management, go to this Knowledge Base article: Vendors and Apps Supported by WatchGuard Patch Management.

In a Vulnerability Assessment settings profile, you specify when Vulnerability Assessment searches for new patches and software updates, and the criticality of the patches that Vulnerability Assessment searches for.

You can configure these Vulnerability Assessment settings:

Automatically Search for Patches

To enable Vulnerability Assessment to automatically search for available patches, enable Automatically Search for Patches. If this option is not enabled, Vulnerability Assessment lists do not show missing patches, although you can use patch installation tasks to install missing patches on computers.

Search Frequency

Specifies how often Vulnerability Assessment searches the cloud-based patch database to check for missing patches for your computers.

You can search for missing patches every 1, 3, 6, or 12 hours, or once a day.

Patch Criticality

Specifies the importance (or criticality) of the security patches that Vulnerability Assessment searches for, and whether to search for other non-security patches and service packs.

Software vendors define the importance of the security patches they make available to address vulnerabilities. Patch classifications are not universal and vary by vendor.

To determine whether you want to install a patch, we recommend that you review its description, especially for patches that a vendor does not classify as Critical.

Patches that contain bug fixes and feature enhancements for macOS and Linux are included in the Other patches (non-security related) category.

To configure Vulnerability Assessment settings:

1. In WatchGuard Cloud, select Configure > Endpoints.
2. Select Settings.
3. From the left pane, select Vulnerability Assessment.
   
4. Select an existing security settings profile to edit, copy an existing profile, or in the upper-right corner of the window, click Add to create a new profile.
   
   The Add Settings or Edit Settings page opens.
5. Enter a Name and Description for the profile, if required.
6. To configure how Vulnerability Assessment searches for patches:
   1. Enable Automatically Search for Patches.
   2. To specify how often to search for patches, from the Search Frequency drop-down list, select a frequency.
   3. To specify which patches to search for, in the Patch Criticality section, enable or disable toggles for different types of Security Patches, Other Patches, and Service Packs.

7. Click Save.
8. Select the profile and assign recipients, if required.
   For more information, go to Assign a Settings Profile.

Related Topics

Vulnerability Assessment Requirements

About Patch Management