Understand the assessment
A Pipsqueak assessment helps your IT provider understand your technology, identify risks, and explain what needs attention. Here is what Unified and Snapshot can examine—and what that means for your business.
Coverage depends on the scanner, selected checks, permissions, and systems that respond.
Two ways to assess
A Windows desktop application your IT provider uses to choose assessment modules and scope.
A one-time Windows assessment reached through a download link for your organization.
A short download does not mean a limited scan. Confirm the scanner and scope with the person who requested it before opening the file.
What is scanned—and why
These are assessment categories, not a promise that every check runs or succeeds on every system. Expand a category to see the information examined, its purpose, and how the two scanners differ.
Device names, IP addresses, operating-system versions, processors, memory, disks, and available storage.
Build an inventory and identify aging equipment, unsupported systems, and capacity concerns.
Reachable hosts, listening ports, service information, device types, and network relationships where discoverable.
Find unexpected devices and services, and understand how much of the environment is visible.
Firewall status, antivirus and Microsoft Defender information, installed updates, security services, and available threat and ransomware-protection evidence.
See whether expected protections are enabled and whether updates or security settings need attention.
Local users, administrator membership, account settings, running services, Remote Desktop settings, and screen-lock configuration.
Identify excessive access and settings that could make an unattended or compromised computer easier to misuse.
Application names and versions, remote-access and management tools, and matches against published vulnerability information.
Spot outdated software, known weaknesses, and tools that should be accounted for.
Available browser history and installed extensions. Results can identify websites used and include activity details.
Identify risky extensions, sensitive browsing exposure, and use of web services that may need business oversight.
Saved-login websites, usernames, and password-strength or reuse findings where the browser and Windows allow access.
Identify weak or reused credentials and understand the risk of keeping business passwords in a browser.
Email addresses checked against Have I Been Pwned and returned breach information.
Identify accounts associated with known breaches so the business can review password and access protection.
Domain controllers, users, groups, computers, organizational units, Group Policy, domain-service roles, and DNS configuration.
Understand how business identities and permissions are organized and where directory risks may exist.
User accounts, MFA, administrative roles, access policies, storage usage, and available sharing, forwarding, retention, and data-protection evidence.
Review cloud identity and information-protection settings alongside the on-premises environment.
Contents of selected folders and supported documents searched for patterns such as email addresses, payment-card numbers, and personal identifiers.
Find sensitive information in places the business may need to restrict, clean up, or protect.
Your information
An assessment can reveal more than a list of devices. Review these areas with your provider so the collection matches what your business has agreed to share.
The current Unified password report contains login websites, usernames, and strength/reuse information without plaintext passwords. Snapshot can include recoverable saved-password values in its uploaded results. Agree on whether that collection is acceptable and how those results will be handled before running Snapshot.
| Information | What to understand |
|---|---|
| Device and account details | Results can contain computer names, addresses, software, usernames, directory memberships, and security settings. |
| Browser activity | History and login findings can reveal websites, account identifiers, and activity details. These are sensitive assessment data, not anonymous statistics. |
| Selected file contents | Unified’s PII scan reads supported files in the selected folders. Findings can include file paths, detected values, and short evidence excerpts. Certain high-risk identifiers are masked; that does not anonymize the entire report. |
| External lookups | Vulnerability checks can query public vulnerability information. Breach checks send email addresses to Have I Been Pwned. DNS and other network lookups may also contact external services. |
| Results and reports | Unified lets the operator review, export, and upload results. Snapshot sends its collected results automatically to Pipsqueak for the organization linked to the download. Multiple device submissions can be combined. |
Ask your provider who will have access, what will appear in the customer report, how long the underlying results will be kept, and whether assessment data will be sent to an AI service for report generation.
Access and impact
Local collection uses the Windows access available to the scanner and may require administrator elevation. Deeper remote checks need reachable systems and appropriate permissions. Snapshot can probe the local network even without a separately entered network username and password.
Unified’s Active Directory checks use authorized directory access. Microsoft 365 is a separate sign-in and consent step, with coverage governed by the permissions granted. Snapshot attempts directory checks in its existing Windows context; it does not include Microsoft 365 collection.
Collection uses system resources, and network discovery sends active requests. File-content scanning can take longer on large folders. The checks described here assess and report; changes to security policies or remediation should be agreed separately.
Identify industrial controls, medical equipment, operational technology, and other fragile devices before any active network scan. Your provider should agree on exclusions, an appropriate scanning method, and a suitable time with the equipment owner.
A missing or inaccessible result is a coverage limit, not proof that a system is secure. Review the findings and any gaps with your IT provider.
Before you scan
Confirm the sender and your organization’s name before running an organization-linked download. Your IT provider should be able to explain the proposed scope in terms you understand.
Common questions
No. Snapshot collects local Windows evidence, actively discovers devices on local network ranges, checks ports, and attempts Active Directory checks where access is available. Your IT provider should confirm that scope before you run it.
Browser history, extensions, and saved-login audits can examine information stored in accessible browser profiles. Unified also offers a separate file-content PII scan for selected folders. Snapshot includes browser checks but does not enable file-content PII scanning.
The current Unified password report excludes plaintext password values and reports account, strength, and reuse information. Snapshot can include recoverable saved-password values in its uploaded results. Confirm the scanner version and password-audit handling with your provider before proceeding.
The assessment checks described here collect and report information; they are not a remediation plan being applied automatically. Running the software can create local settings, caches, temporary files, and scan results. Unified installation can also require application and Microsoft runtime components.
Local collection, file analysis, and active network checks use computer and network resources. Duration and load depend on the selected checks, device count, file volume, and access available. Agree on timing with your IT provider, especially for critical or sensitive equipment.
Unified supports reviewing and exporting results and uploading them to a selected organization in Pipsqueak. Snapshot automatically uploads collected results to the organization associated with its download link. Ask the requesting provider who can view reports, how long data is retained, and whether report data is processed by an AI provider.