Phase 1: Patch and Clean Endpoints

Prior to introducing Application Control to your environment, patch any vulnerabilities on your endpoints with the latest security patches. Then scan endpoints to remove any malware that may be present. This cleanup prevents the system from adding malware to the whitelist you'll create later, so that your endpoints don't get re-infected.

In this phase you will:

• Identify and patch any known security vulnerabilities on your endpoints

• Perform a thorough antivirus scan on your endpoints to remove any dormant malware (malware buried within archives)

• Schedule the antivirus scan to run outside of your organization's operating hours to avoid disrupting productivity

• Communicate with your users so that they understand why you are patching and scanning endpoints. See Appendix 2 for sample end user communications.