SECURITY MANAGEMENT TOOL FOR MANAGING SECURITY ATTRIBUTES IN COMPUTER SYSTEMS

A Security Management Tool (SMT) is defined and created that solves the problem of efficiently and accurately configuring security attributes for multiple computer systems. SMT executes an automated operation that captures a definition of security attributes on a particular, selected computer system and sets the captured security attribute definition on one or more subsequently-configured systems. In various embodiments, SMT clones security attribute information according to selected security information groupings. Typical security information groupings include User/Group security information, file system security information, registry system security information groupings, and the like. SMT stores security information in a security attribute file that serves as a central security configuration database. SMT accesses the central security configuration database to recreate the setting of security attributes on other computer systems.