Frequently Asked Questions About SASSy


Table of Contents

  1. Can I print out all of SASSy's survey questions?
  2. Can I make up my own survey questions?
  3. I have an operational area at my facility that is not in SASSy.   What do I do?
  4. I don't have one of the operational areas listed in SASSy.   Do I still have to answer survey questions for that area?
  5. I don't have one of the security components listed for one of the areas I am surveying.  Do I still have to answer survey questions for that security component?
  6. Why can't I answer "don't know" to the survey questions?
  7. Can I export SASSy's reports to my word processing program?
  8. If I start off with the SASSy Survey program will I have to redo my survey if I upgrade to another SASSy version?
  9. Will SASSy run under Windows NT?
  10. Can I install SASSy on a server so that I can use it from different locations in my hospital?
  11. How do I remove old surveys from my Palm Pilot™?
  12. Will SASSy work with a Handspring Visor™?

Can I print out all of SASSy's survey questions?

No.  There are many questions in SASSy that are asked only if another question is answered in a specific way.  These are called dependent questions.   So for a specific survey, only a subset of all of SASSy's questions gets asked.  Printing out all 400+ questions would make it much more difficult and cumbersome to do a survey.   If you need to be able to take a survey with you when you leave the office, you can use SASSy Survey for the Palm Pilot™.

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Can I make up my own survey questions?

No.  SASSy is an "expert system" software program.  It has been created by security practitioners with many years of experience and "trained" to ask questions and make judgements about security vulnerabilities just like a security consultant.  Adding questions without going through a "retraining" process by experts would lead to a system that could possibly make incorrect judgements about your security weaknesses.

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I have an operational area that is not in SASSy.  What do I do?

Your only alternative is to pick an area in SASSy that is the closest match to your operational area.

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I don't have one of the operational areas listed in SASSy.  Do I still have to answer survey questions for that area?

No.  SASSy doesn't force you to answer questions for an area.  In the Analysis window, the Vulnerability graph will show the area greyed out.

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I don't have a security component for one of the areas I am surveying.  Do I still have to answer survey questions for that security component?

Yes.  A missing security component in an area represents a significant vulnerability.  If you don't answer the questions for that security component, SASSy will not be able to make a correct judgement of the overall vulnerability of the area.   SASSy always assumes the worst case for a question, so just go through the survey for the missing security component accepting all of the default answers.

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Why can't I answer "don't know" to the survey questions?

In order to make a judgement about your vulnerabilities SASSy needs to have answers to all the questions.  If you don't know the answer to a specific question, accept SASSy's default answer.  SASSy will assume the worst case in order to "play it safe".  You can always go back later and change the answer to the questions when you have better information.

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Can I export SASSy's reports to my word processing program?

No.  That feature doesn't currently exist in SASSy.

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If I start off with the SASSy Survey program will I have to redo my survey if I upgrade to another SASSy version?

No.  All of the versions of SASSy are compatible with one another.

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Will SASSy run under Windows NT?

Yes.

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Can I install SASSy on a server so that I can use it from different locations in my hospital?

Yes.  While SASSy has not been designed specifically to run from a server, it will work when installed from a server.  To make it work with a Palm Pilot over the server, you'll need to modify the registry information created during SASSy's Palm Pilot installation.  Please contact technical support for assistance.

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How do I remove old surveys from my Palm Pilot™?

For older models of the Palm running the Palm OS 2.0, go to the Applications Launcher, tap Memory, press Delete apps, find and highlight SASSyDB, and press delete.  For newer models of the Palm running versions of the Palm OS greater than 2.0, go to the Applications Launcher by tapping the Applications icon, tap the Menu icon to display menu options, tap delete, find and highlight SASSyDB, then press delete.

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Will SASSy work with a Handspring Visor™?

Yes.  The Visor™ looks just like a Palm Pilot™ to SASSy software.   None of the operation or installation instructions are different.

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Copyright © AKELA, Inc.  All rights reserved.
Revised: April 30, 2008.