2.24.1.6 Ensure Set 'Automatically Receive Small Updates to Improve Reliability' is set to Disabled

Information

This policy setting controls whether Microsoft Office Diagnostics is enabled. Office Diagnostics enables Microsoft to diagnose system problems by periodically downloading a small file to the computer. If you enable this policy setting, Office Diagnostics collects information about specific errors and the IP address of the computer. Office Diagnostics does not transmit any personally identifiable information to Microsoft other than the IP address of the computer requesting the update. If you disable this policy setting, users will not receive updates from Office Diagnostics. If you do not configure this policy setting, this policy setting is not enabled, but users have the opportunity to opt into receiving updates from Office Diagnostics the first time they run an Office application. The recommended state for this setting is: Disabled. Office Diagnostics is used to improve the user experience by periodically downloading a small file to the computer with updated help information about specific problems. If Office Diagnostics is enabled, it collects information about specific errors and the IP address of the computer. When new help information is available, that help information is downloaded to the computer that experienced the related problems. Office Diagnostics does not transmit any personally identifiable information to Microsoft other than the IP address of the computer requesting the update. By default, users have the opportunity to opt into receiving updates from Office Diagnostics the first time they run a Office application. If your organization has policies that govern the use of external resources such as Office Diagnostics, allowing users to opt in to this feature might cause them to violate these policies.

Solution

To implement the recommended configuration state, set the following Group Policy setting to Disabled. User Configuration\Administrative Templates\Microsoft Office 2016\Privacy\Trust Center\Automatically Receive Small Updates to Improve Reliability Impact: Disabling this setting will prevent users from receiving information and advice from Microsoft about fixing and preventing Office application errors, which could cause your support department to experience an increase in desktop support requests.

See Also

https://workbench.cisecurity.org/files/571

Item Details

Category: CONFIGURATION MANAGEMENT

References: 800-53|CM-6b.

Plugin: Windows

Control ID: 8096b2135e0d843ce792487aa0eee55db0aad236a155b5ede0cc54ad4394d152