Son
of Snoop on Steroids
Background
Revision History
| 3.2.0.3 | 9 May 13 |
| 3.2.0.2 | 13 May 10 |
| 3.2.0.1 | 5 Jul 09 |
| 3.1.0.6 | 22 Nov 08 |
| 3.1.0.4 | 14 Feb 08 |
| 3.1.0.2 | 29 Oct 07 |
| 3.1.0.0 | 18 Jun 07 |
| 3.0.0.6 | 5 Feb 07 |
| 3.0.0.0 | 3 Jul 07 |
Son of Snoop on Steroids (SOSOS) is a system information utility that inventories computer hardware, software, configuration, and security-related information. It gathers over 220 pieces of information about computers and optionally stores this information in a database.It can be run locally or can be used by an administrator to scan a network.
It gathers hardware information such as CPU, memory, hard drives, video cards, and serial numbers; software information such as operating system, installed software, and software components; configuration information such as network configuration, IP address, running processes, desktop settings, and services; and security-related information such as shared resources, modems, account policies, security patches, and virus activity.
SOSOS was designed to make the life of the System Administrator easier… many tools are available to gather data similar to SOSOS, but few allow you to automatically record the results into a database.
In a corporate environment, SOSOS is typically configured to run in the background during login and therefore most users are never even aware of SOSOS, much less the role that it plays in maintaining the security of the network. The program can also be used by a system administrator at any time to poll remote PCs for their data. Polling does not require an "agent" to be installed on the remote PCs.
SOSOS can be a valuable tool towards maintaining the security of computer systems. It allows a properly-authorized system administrator to gather, view, store, and analyze the configuration details of hundreds of PCs in the network.
SOSOS is also suitable for end users, as it can provide useful configuration information.
SOSOS is completely free of charge. SOSOS and its source code is considered in the "public domain". That means you can do anything you want with it, to include making money from it. There is no licensing requirement.
SOSOS is the winner of a 2003 Grace Hopper Government Technology Leadership Award
Running SOSOS
The most common task in SOSOS is to collect data from the local PC. You perform this function by clicking on the Collect Data button (or from the File/Collect Data menu). The SOSOS screen will look like the following
Use of SOSOS Data
The true power of SOSOS is in the manipulation of the data that it collects. The collection of the data by itself isn't all that helpful... but the ability to write queries against the data is a very powerful tool. This ability to analyze the data is where SOSOS can save an organization time and money.
Many people in our organization are able to use the data from SOSOS:- IT staff can diagnose network configuration errors
- Security staff can track "points of entry" (modems, shares, abandoned PCs, etc.).
- Property book staff can track serial numbers
- Budget staff can use it to help plan major upgrades
- Users can find a CD Burner, Zip drive, or color printer that they can use
Users think our IT staff is psychic, since we can often detect a problem before they are even aware that a problem exists. In other cases, when a user has a problem, we can remotely "snoop" their PC while they are on the phone.
When a new security concern is discovered, we quickly write a query against the SOSOS database or, if required, re-scan our PCs. SOSOS provides a way to answer questions such as:
- How many PCs are missing the latest security patch
- Who has dangerous/inappropriate/illegal software?
- Who has an "open" share on their PC?
- Who is getting errors in the Event logs?
- Who has an account with no password?
- Is everyone using an NTFS partition?
- What's the revision level of the anti-virus software?
- What's the date of the virus signatures?
- Who is getting virus activity?
SOSOS also provides an inventory tracking system that records the brand, model number, and serial number of their PC, and also video monitor and printer information. SOSOS provides a way to keep track of:
- Who has a CD burner, a DVD, a zip drive, etc.?
- How many copies of the licensed software are installed?
- What PCs need hardware upgrades, BIOS updates, etc.?
- Who is running low on disk space?
- What PCs need operating system/software upgrades?
- Who has a printer like mine? I need to borrow an ink cartridge.
- Hey! Where’d that PC go? (Track by serial number or MAC address)
Other Projects
View other projects by Emmet Gray at: http://www.emmet-gray.com