Security Basics mailing list archives
Re: Oh Dear, Where to start?!
From: Nicholas Diotte <xphox () xphox net>
Date: 25 Jun 2003 18:12:59 -0000
In-Reply-To: <20030625115546.74844.qmail () web10410 mail yahoo com> Okay wow, Sounds like your in a mess of trouble... For policies, I recommend reading http://www.sans.org/resources/policies/ this will give you a great start.. this is what most of my policies are based off, and I've yet to run into any trouble with them. Next, you have to have anti-virus, it's a must... This does cost money, and I've found that if you can make a good presentation of how much it would cost to repair the damage caused by a virus, most employers will spend the cash.. I recommend products by Symantec, and Computer Associates. If open shares are a must, then make sure you are running some kind of firewall. There are plenty of free firewalls out there, but you'll need to scavenge a machine to run it on. Try looking into the GPL of www.smoothwall.org, there are so many it's really what your comfortable with. If I had to start somewhere, I would start with anti-virus.
Hey everyone, Ok... I am in a bit of a jam here and I was hoping to get some feedback from some of you with appropriate experience in the field of network security and policy development. I am an senior at RIT studying (essentially) systems administration. My main focus and priority has been computer security and policy development. I recently took a internship with a small government office helping out with computer administration tasks. Upon arrival, I decided it would be fun to do a windows update to see what sort of things would come up for my PC. Low and behold, there were over 40 critical updates, driver updates, and recommended updates. Right off the bat this triggered the feeling that there was absolutely no security or update plans in place at this particular organization. I quickly addressed the issue, and have been working to draft a comprehensive security policy and implement technical controls. What I need advice on is the following: If you were introduced to a mixed network (literally all versions of windows since 3.1 and mac systems) that have no updates, backups, or patches installed... connected to a network with only a basic NAT table and no other security... with not even anti-virus software enabled... with no user policies or disaster plans in place... with unprotected netbios shares everywhere... where would you start the process of building some sort of security solution? I mean, I've seen passwords on monitors, shared accounts, open public ports (even the wiring cabinet was unlocked in plain view of passbys to the building). I've been tasked with creating the security policies relating to internet use, network and phone use, passwords, physical security, backup/disaster plans, antivirus, incident response, email use/protection, and whatever else needs done. This wouldnt be so bad normally I guess, but there is virtually no budget allocated to help for this project and I have approximately 3 months to do it. To make matters worse, I am also responsible for systems admin, network admin, tech support, programming, and whatever other tasks may need to be done in the meantime. So basically, if you had to start from nothing, where would you start first? What would you consider to be the most important things to be implemented? I am literally working from ground zero here... heh! Thank so much in advance ;-) Steve Frank ---------------- President SPARSA Security Practices and Research Student Association Rochester Institute of Technology
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Current thread:
- RE: Oh Dear, Where to start?!, (continued)
- RE: Oh Dear, Where to start?! Des Ward (Jun 26)
- Re: Oh Dear, Where to start?! Jason K. Boykin (Jun 26)
- Re: Oh Dear, Where to start?! Mitch Pirtle (Jun 26)
- Re: Oh Dear, Where to start?! bugtraq (Jun 30)
- Re: Oh Dear, Where to start?! Patrick Boucher (Jun 26)
- Re: Oh Dear, Where to start?! Jeff (Jun 26)
- Re: Oh Dear, Where to start?! jon rodman (Jun 27)
- RE: Oh Dear, Where to start?! Benz Jessica-p53552 (Jun 26)
- RE: Oh Dear, Where to start?! altug (Jun 27)
- Re: Oh Dear, Where to start?! chayden (Jun 26)
- Re: Oh Dear, Where to start?! Nicholas Diotte (Jun 26)
- RE: Oh Dear, Where to start?! sharon_joyner (Jun 26)
- RE: Oh Dear, Where to start?! Drew Hunt (Jun 26)
- Re: Oh Dear, Where to start?! Chris Berry (Jun 26)
- RE: Oh Dear, Where to start?! AKaasjager (Jun 26)
- RE: Oh Dear, Where to start?! tony tony (Jun 27)
- RE: Oh Dear, Where to start?! Mitchell Rowton (Jun 26)
- Fwd: Oh Dear, Where to start?! Rick Jones (Jun 26)
- Re: Oh Dear, Where to start?! Bill Hardstone (Jun 26)
- RE: Oh Dear, Where to start?! AKaasjager (Jun 27)
- Re: Oh Dear, Where to start?! Paul Hawkinson (Jun 27)
(Thread continues...)