THE GOAL OF INFORMATION SECURITY is to prevent loss by protecting the confidentiality, integrity, and availability of information. Security controls protect resources and manage controls in a larger environment using group policy. How do you know if your system is meeting your security goals? You can verify that controls are working, but how do you know if they are getting the job done? How do your controls compare with other environments? Are your systems configured with similar controls using recognized best practices? Is your environment radically different?

In this chapter, you’ll learn how to analyze your current computer settings. You’ll learn how to compare them with established settings and goals. You’ll learn how to identify differences from your desired settings or overall security goals. You’ll also learn how to fix any issues that you identify and how to monitor your environment’s behavior over time to ensure that you’re staying secure.