Experience Windows 2003 SP1 new highlights feature - Security Configuration Wizard

It is understood that the recently released Windows Server 2003 Chinese patch package SP1, in addition to the system to fix the loopholes, but also added some useful features, especially It is the Security Configuration Wizard (SCW) function, which has become a highlight in the new features of Windows 2003 SP1.

In Windows 2003 SP1, the Security Configuration Wizard (SCW) is a new security configuration feature that minimizes the attack surface of the server.

With the features provided by SCW, the network administrator can easily specify server roles, disable unneeded services and ports, configure server network security, configure audit policies, registry, and IIS servers. Great help to consolidate the security of the server. At the same time, since the entire configuration process is completed in the wizard dialog box, the burden of the network management will be reduced without cumbersome manual setting.

Now, let us strengthen our server security system under the guidance of this security "guide".

By default, even if your Windows 2003 system has the SP1 patch installed, you will not be able to use the SCW feature. This is because the component is not installed and the user needs to manually install SCW via the “Add/Remove Windows Components” function.

First of all, ensure that the SP1 patch package has been installed on the Windows 2003 system, and then go to the "Add/Remove Windows Components" page. In the “Windows Components Wizard” dialog box, select the “Security Configuration Wizard” option and click the “Next” button to complete the installation of the SCW component.

Tip: After completing the installation of this component, running SCW is also very simple, there are two main methods. Go to the "Administrative Tools" window in the "Control Panel" and run the "Security Configuration Wizard"; click “Start →Run”, Run in the Run dialog box “SCW.exe” command.

The Security Configuration Wizard (SCW) walks you through the process of creating, editing, applying, or rolling back a security policy. It provides a convenient way to create or modify a server's security policy based on a role. You can then use Group Policy to apply this security policy to multiple target servers that perform the same role. You can also use SCW to roll back a policy to its previous configuration for recovery purposes. With SCW, you can compare the server's security settings to the required security policies to check for vulnerable configurations in your system.