About upgrades

Types of Deep Security updates from Trend Micro include:

• Software upgrades: New software such as the Deep Security Manager, Virtual Appliance, Agent and Relay.

• Security updates: Rules and malware patterns that Deep Security Agent and Virtual Appliance software uses to identify potential threats. Types of security updates include:

  • Pattern updates: Used by Anti-Malware.

  • Rule updates: Used by:

    • Firewall
    • Intrusion Prevention
    • Integrity Monitoring
    • Log Inspection

Application Control rule updates are created locally, based on your computers' software. They are not from Trend Micro.

The Anti-Malware engine in agent and virtual appliance software can be updated independently to keep up with the newest threats. See Enable automatic Anti-Malware engine updates.

Trend Micro releases new rule updates every Tuesday, with additional updates as new threats are discovered. Information about the updates is available in the Trend Micro Threat Encyclopedia.

How Deep Security Manager checks for software upgrades

Deep Security Manager periodically connects to Trend Micro Update servers to check for updates to software that you have imported into the Deep Security Manager database, such as:

• Deep Security Agent
• Deep Security Virtual Appliance
• Deep Security Manager

This checks based on the local inventory, not the Download Center. (There is a separate alert for new software on the Download Center.)

An alert on the manager notifies you that software updates are available. On Administration > Updates > Software, the Trend Micro Download Center section also indicates whether there are updates available. Once you import (download) software into the Deep Security Manager database, you can upgrade the software in your deployment. See Upgrade Deep Security Agent and Upgrade the appliance.

To determine when the last check was performed, whether it was successful, or to manually initiate a check for updates, go to Administration > Updates > Software and view the "Deep Security" section. If you have configured a scheduled task to check for updates, the date and time of the next scheduled check is also listed here. See Schedule Deep Security to perform tasks.

When imported, software is stored in the Deep Security Manager database. Imported software is periodically replicated to relays.

Best practices for upgrades

When deploying a new release of the Deep Security Agent or Deep Security Virtual Appliance:

• Deep Security Relays must be the same version or newer than all agents and appliances in your environment.
• Deep Security Relays should be the same version as your Deep Security Manager.
• When performing upgrades of Deep Security software, the order of upgrade is important. Upgrade your Deep Security Manager first, then all relays, then agents and appliances.

Beginning with Deep Security 20, you cannot activate a Deep Security Agent with a Deep Security Manager that is older than the Minimum DSM Version for that agent release. You can find the Minimum DSM Version on the Deep Security Software download page.

With Workload Security, the manager and relays provided with the service are always up to date. You can ignore the Minimum DSM Version and not think about relay versions unless you choose to deploy extra relays in your environment.

How Deep Security validates update integrity

Both software updates and security updates are digitally signed. In addition to automatic checks, if you want to manually validate the signatures or checksums, you can use external tools such as:

• sha256sum (Linux)
• Checksum Calculator (Windows)
• jarsigner (Java Development Kit (JDK); see Check digital signatures on software packages)

Digital signatures

When security updates are viewed, used, or imported into the Deep Security Manager database (either manually or automatically, via scheduled task), the manager validates the signature. A correct digital signature indicates that the software is authentically from Trend Micro and hasn't been corrupted or tampered with. If the digital signature is invalid, the manager does not use the file. A warning is also recorded in log files such as server0.log:

WARNING: ThID:85|TID:0|TNAME:Primary|UID:1|UNAME:MasterAdmin|Verifying the signature failed.

com.thirdbrigade.manager.core.general.exceptions.FileNotSignedValidationException: "corrupted_rules.zip." has not been digitally signed by Trend Micro and cannot be imported.

If you manually import a security update package with an invalid digital signature, the manager also displays an error message.

Old security updates that are not signed fail validation if they are used, even if you successfully imported them in a previous version of Deep Security Manager that did not enforce signatures. For better protection, use new security updates instead. However if you still require the old security updates, you can contact your support provider to request a file that is signed, and then manually import the security update.

Deep Security Agent also validates the digital signature, compares checksums (sometimes called hashes or fingerprints) and uses other, non-disclosed integrity methods.

Checksums

Software checksums (also called hashes or fingerprints) are published on the Download Center. To view the SHA-256 hash, click the + button next to the software's name.