Citadel / Controls / MissingProcesses

MissingProcesses Control

What does this control check?

The MissingProcesses control verifies that all required programs and services are currently running on your computer. A "process" is any program actively running, whether visible or in the background. The specific list of required processes is configured by your IT team based on security and business requirements.

Important: Citadel will tell you which specific process(es) need to be running. Required processes are typically essential security services like antivirus protection, VPN clients, backup agents, or endpoint security tools. If these processes aren't running, your computer lacks critical protections even though the application might be installed. For example, having antivirus software installed but not running provides no protection against malware.

Why is this important?

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Active Protection

Security tools only protect you when they're actually running. An installed but stopped antivirus, firewall service, or VPN provides zero protection against threats.

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Continuous Monitoring

Many security processes work by continuously monitoring your system for threats, suspicious activity, or policy violations. If they're not running, threats can go undetected.

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Service Availability

Required processes often enable critical business functions like secure network access, data backup, or system management. Without them running, you may lose access to resources.

How to fix this

Starting Required Processes on Windows

⚠️ Contact IT Support First:
  • Missing processes often indicate a configuration problem or failed service
  • Simply restarting a process may not fix the underlying issue
  • IT support can diagnose why the process isn't running and fix it properly
  • Please contact your IT support team for assistance

Information to provide to IT support:

  • The name of the missing process (from Citadel notification)
  • Your computer name and username
  • When you last restarted your computer
  • Whether you've recently uninstalled any applications
  • Any error messages you've seen

If IT has asked you to restart the service:

  1. Press Windows + R to open Run
  2. Type services.msc and press Enter
  3. Find the service in the list (IT will tell you the name)
  4. Right-click the service and select Start
  5. OR right-click and select Restart if it's already running
Simple fix to try: Sometimes restarting your computer will start the required process. Try this first before contacting IT support.

Starting Required Processes on macOS

⚠️ Contact IT Support First:
  • Missing processes often indicate a configuration problem or failed service
  • Simply restarting a process may not fix the underlying issue
  • IT support can diagnose why the process isn't running and fix it properly
  • Please contact your IT support team for assistance

Information to provide to IT support:

  • The name of the missing process (from Citadel notification)
  • Your computer name, username, and macOS version
  • When you last restarted your Mac
  • Whether you've recently uninstalled any applications
  • Any error messages or notifications you've seen

If IT has asked you to launch the application:

  1. Open Finder and click Applications
  2. Find and launch the application that should be running the process
  3. Check if the application starts properly
  4. Look in the menu bar (top-right) for the application icon
  5. Some security tools run in the background without showing a window
Simple fix to try: Sometimes restarting your Mac will start the required process. Try this first before contacting IT support.

Verifying the fix

After starting the required process, Citadel will automatically verify this control during its next check.

To verify the process is running:

  1. Open Task Manager (Ctrl + Shift + Esc)
  2. Go to the Processes tab
  3. Search for the process name using the search box
  4. The required process should appear in the list
  5. It should show as "Running" in the Status column

Note: Some processes appear in the Details tab instead of the Processes tab.

To verify the process is running:

  1. Open Activity Monitor
  2. Make sure you're viewing All Processes (from the View menu)
  3. Search for the process name in the search box
  4. The required process should appear in the results
  5. Check that it's not highlighted in red (which indicates a crashed process)