Trust me, one of these days you will have no choice but to give some travelling user the local admin account, and if that is the same across all machines, you will then have to reset them all. Make sure that the configuration does not interfere with your management tasks, like pushing antivirus updates, checking logs, auditing software, etc. Kevin Fraseir February 29, 2012 at 6:33 am. Designing a network is not just about placing routers, firewalls, intrusion detection system, etc in a network but it is about having good reasons for placing such hardware in its place. We’re layering things here. If you have more servers than you can count without taking off your shoes, you have too many to manually check each one’s logs by hand. Keep the data current in your system. But since … Everyone has their own method; the most common approach is probably keeping a cheat sheet (which is just a concise list of the items you think apply to you). Make sure that you have Wake-On-LAN compatible network cards so you can deploy patches after hours if necessary. Turn on your firewall. Don’t forget those service tags! Keep up to date on patches and security updates for your hardware. Download GFI LanGuard free for 30 days today! Set strong account lockout policies and investigate any accounts that are locked out to ensure attackers cannot use your remote access method as a way to break into your network. Deny all should be the default posture on all access lists, inbound and outbound. Salient: Video Surveillance Systems Hardening Guide; SONY: Network Video Management System Hardening Guide; Viakoo: InfoSec white paper and 12-point video network security checklist, plus a new award-winning multiple-camera-brand Camera Firmwarw Update Manager product and with a Camera Firmward Password Manager coming soon. Never let this be one of the things you forget to get back to. Pop quiz…is your username and password for Facebook the same as for Twitter? The security configuration framework is designed to help simplify security configuration while still allowing enough flexibility to allow you to balance security, productivity, and user experience. It’s more scalable, easier to audit, and can carry over to new users or expanding departments much more easily than individual user permissions. In the next few lessons, we'll do a deep dive on the best practices that an IT support specialist should know for implementing network hardening. User Accounts. Important: Do not run Tableau Server, or any components of Tableau Server on the internet or in a DMZ. Set up and maintain an approved method for remote access, and grant permissions to any user who should be able to connect remotely, and then ensure your company policy prohibits other methods. Use the most secure remote access method your platform offers. Thomas Macadams February 28, 2012 at 2:51 am. In recent versions of Windows operating systems, including Windows 10, your … If you are going to do split tunneling, enforce internal name resolution only to further protect users when on insecure networks. syslog, Log all failed interactive device management access using centralized AAA or an alternative, e.g. This has resulted in a … Policies need to be created, socialized, approved by management, and made official to hold any weight in the environment, and should be used as the ultimate reference when making security decisions. Much like servers, pick one remote access method and stick with it, banning all others. Network hardening is fundamental to IT security. I am sending it to some pals ans also sharing in delicious. Any additional documentation can be linked to or attached. Configure your vulnerability scanning application to scan all of your external address space weekly. I think two weeks is good, but most would say 30 days. Administrators can use it as a reminder of all the hardening features used and considered for a Cisco IOS device, even if a feature was not implemented because it did not apply. That person is also the second pair of eyes, so you are much less likely to find that something got missed. Before a user ever gets a network account, they need training on what to do, what not to do, and how to go about protecting themselves and the network. Perform regular reviews of your remote access audit logs and spot check with users if you see any unusual patters, like logons in the middle of the night, or during the day when the user is already in the office. Validate that each workstation reports to your antivirus, patch management, and any other consoles before you turn it over to the user, and then audit frequently to ensure all workstations report in. Remember, not every browser will honor GPO settings and not every app will process what’s in a PAC or WPAD. P Use two network interfaces in the server: one for admin and one for the network… We specialize in computer/network security, digital forensics, application security and IT audit. If you use host intrusion prevention, you need to ensure that it is configured according to your standards, and reports up to the management console. In a nutshell, hardening your home wireless network is the first step in ensuring the safety of your family on potentially dangerous web. P Place the server in a physically secure location. Any suggestions? You probably won’t perform regular full backups of your workstations, but consider folder redirection or Internet based backups to protect critical user data. For a small company it can be used verbatim, while for a large one there might need to be some additions but all in all, awesome work, thank you! It’s very helpful when looking at logs if a workstation is named for the user who has it. Perform regular vulnerability scans of a random sample of your workstations to help ensure your workstations are up to date. Of course, neither was most of the government. If you answered yes, you’re doing it wrong. According to the PCI DSS, to comply with Requirement 2.2, merchants must “address all known security vulnerabilities and [be] consistent with industry-accepted system hardening standards.” Common industry-accepted standards that include specific weakness-correcting guidelines are published by the following organizations: Don’t be a victim. FTP, TFTP, unless required, Device software image verification, e.g. As an example, we all know that sharing passwords is bad, but until we can point to the company policy that says it is bad, we cannot hold our users to account should they share a password with another. Software firewalls need to be configured to permit the required traffic for your network, including remote access, logging and monitoring, and other services. That means the company network is now hosting pirated content. Hardening Network Devices Thanks Remco! Network hardware runs an operating system too, we just call it firmware. Consider using two factor authentication, like tokens, smart cards, certificates, or SMS solutions, to further secure remote access. ... Tableau Server was designed to operate inside a protected internal network. Use 802.1x for authentication to your wireless network so only approved devices can connect. Maintain a network hardware list that is similar to your server list, and includes device name and type, location, serial number, service tag, and responsible party. NIST maintains the National Checklist Repository, which is a publicly available resource that contains information on a variety of security configuration checklists for specific IT products or categories of IT products. If you are going to use SNMP, change the default community strings and set authorized management stations. Provide your users with secure Internet access by implement an Internet monitoring solution. All servers need to run antivirus software and report to the central management console. Using this checklist as a starting point, and working with the rest of your IT team, your management, human resources, and your legal counsel, you will be able to create the ultimate network security checklist for your specific environment. That makes it much easier to track down when something looks strange in the logs. We’ll break this list down into broad categories for your ease of reference. Well, a lot can change in the four years since we published that list, and not everyone reads our back catalog, so we wanted to freshen things up and make sure we cover all the bases as we bring this checklist forward for you. Here’s where most of the good stuff sits, so making sure your secure your fileshares is extremely important. Naming conventions may seem like a strange thing to tie to security, but being able to quickly identify a server is critical when you spot some strange traffic, and if an incident is in progress, every second saved counts. syslog, Log all successful privileged EXEC level device management access using centralized AAA or an alternative, e.g. Make 2016 the year you get your security house in order, and you will be well on your way to ensuring you won’t be front page news in 2017. This is a document to provide you with the areas of information security you should focus on, along with specific settings or recommended practices that will help you to secure your environment against threats from within and without. If there’s one GREAT thing I learned way back in college – that is to backup all network programs and systems. You get centralized management, and a single user account store for all your users. Scan all content for malware, whether that is file downloads, streaming media, or simply scripts contained in web pages. Hardening refers to providing various means of protection in a computer system. If you are going to use SNMP, make sure you configure your community strings, and restrict management access to your known systems. Create a server deployment checklist, and make sure all of the following are on the list, and that each server you deploy complies 100% before it goes into production. syslog, Log all failed privileged EXEC level device management access using centralized AAA or an alternative, e.g. Scanning exceptions need to be documented in the server list so that if an outbreak is suspected, those directories can be manually checked. Windows Server 2012 R2 includes IPAM services. Use VLANs to segregate traffic types, like workstations, servers, out of band management, backups, etc. It’s not a foolproof approach, but nothing in security is. Protection is provided in various layers and is often referred to as defense in depth. Then update it gradually – things that become second nature can be removed and new things you encounter should get added. If you’re familiar with coding you could just edit the .srt file to see if there is anything crazy on it, Thanks I think it was good but could also pay Software. Be extra careful about downloading pirated DVD screener movies especially if it contains subtitles (usually it has a .srt file extension). If a server doesn’t need to run a particular service, disable it. Wonderful website. The database server is located behind a firewall with default rules to … Don’t just audit failures, or changes. telnet, HTTP, Deny outgoing access unless explicitly required, Authenticate all terminal and management access using centralized (or local) AAA, Authenticate all EXEC level terminal and management access using centralized (or local) AAA, Authorize all interactive and privileged EXEC level device management access using centralized (or local) AAA, Enforce an idle timeout to detect and close inactive sessions, Enforce an active session timeout to restrict the maximum duration of a session prior to re-authentication, Detect and close hung sessions, e.g. In addition to the items in the network equipment list above, you want to ensure the following for your wireless networking. Users are the weakest link in any network security scenario. Thanks. Backups are worthless if they cannot be restored. This list can really help business owners prevent improve their network security. Use the strongest encryption type you can, preferable WPA2 Enterprise. Consider deploying power saving settings through GPO to help extend the life of your hardware, and save on the utility bill. In some cases it’s even more so, since your servers benefit from the physical security of your datacenter, while workstations are frequently laptops sitting on table tops in coffee shops while your users grab another latte. You may not need this much consideration for a smaller business, but if you have an intention to grow it is ALWAYS a better idea to have the infrastructure in place first and grow to fit it. To protect the network from intruders, organizations should deploy a business-grade firewall, customize its configuration, disable any and all unused services, including file and printer sharing and web and mail servers, block … 100% coverage of all workstations. To provide increased flexibility for the future, DISA has updated the systems that produce STIGs and SRGs. When a tape has reached its end of life, destroy it to ensure no data can be recovered from it. That’s an important distinction; no two networks are exactly the same, and business requirements, regulatory and contractual obligations, local laws, and other factors will all have an influence on your company’s specific network security checklist, so don’t think all your work is done. Mistakes to avoid. These files can be used to infect your computers and spread viruses. This Sharing Peripherals Across the Network (SPAN) Security Technical Implementation Guide (STIG) provides the technical security policies, requirements, and implementation details for applying security concepts to Commercial-Off-The-Shelf (COTS) hardware peripheral devices. Never assign permissions to individual users; only use domain groups. All rights reserved. Use a logging solution that gathers up the logs from all your servers so you can easily parse the logs for interesting events, and correlate logs when investigating events. AAA, NTP, syslog, SNMP. P Do not install the IIS server on a domain controller. System hardening is the practice of securing a computer system to reduce its attack surface by removing unnecessary services and unused software, closing open network ports, changing default settings, and so on. Deploy an email filtering solution that can filter both inbound and outbound messages to protect your users and your customers. server hardening checklist General P Never connect an IIS server to the internet until it is fully hardened. Hardening approach. This security checklist is awesome. How to Comply with PCI Requirement 2.2. This can really help businesses for their network security. System hardening is needed throughout the lifecycle of technology, from initial installation, through configuration, maintenance, and support, to end-of-life decommissioning. Backup agents, logging agents, management agents; whatever software you use to manage your network, make sure all appropriate agents are installed before the server is considered complete. Make sure to disable any interfaces that aren’t being used so they don’t grab an ip.addr or register their APIPA address in DNS if they do get connected to a live Ethernet port by mistake. Roger Willson February 27, 2012 at 9:15 am. Make sure all servers are connected to a UPS, and if you don’t use a generator, make sure they have the agent needed to gracefully shut down before the batteries are depleted. Backup backup backup. Subtitle files are sometimes encoded with malicious codes. This one is critical. When strange traffic is detected, its vital to have an up to date an authoritative reference for each ip.addr on your network. We’ll start with some recommendations for all network equipment, and then look at some platform specific recommendations. Network Hardening Defined Vulnerability can be found everywhere throughout your network and server, putting your precious data, business processes and brand reputation at risk. We are defining discrete prescriptive Windows 10 security configurations (levels 5 through 1) to meet many of the common device scenarios we see today in the enterprise. Ensure that only authorized users can access the workstation remotely, and that they must use their unique credential, instead of some common admin/password combination. Chapter Title. Never use WEP. are all updated whenever there is a change so that if you do need to look something up on a user, you have what you need, and not their phone number from seven years ago when they were first hired. If you can’t install and use an external AAA … For web applications, the attack surface is also affected by the configuration of all underlying operating systems, databases, network devices, application servers, and web servers. At a minimum it should include all the name, purpose, ip.addr, date of service, service tag (if physical,) rack location or default host, operating system, and responsible person. All workstations report status to the central server, and you can push updates when needed. No shared accounts…ever! All of these groups offer Configuration Hardening Checklists for most Windows Operating Systems, Linux variants (Debian, Ubuntu, CentOS, RedHat Enterprise Linux aka RHEL, SUSE Linux), Unix variants (such as Solaris, AIX and HPUX), and firewalls and network appliances, (such as … Maintain a server list (SharePoint is a great place for this) that details all the servers on your network. [ulp id=”cbiKoDdv59CzTKSA”] Submitted for your approval, the Ultimate Network Security Checklist-Redux version. Neither are particularly effective against someone who is seriously interested in your wireless network, but it does keep you off the radar of the casual war driver. read-only, Define strong, non-trivial community strings where SNMP required, Restrict SNMP views per community where possible, Enable only operationally important traps, Block queries that may impact device performance, Enforce strong encryption of locally stored information, Configure NTP across all devices (see NTP section for details), Log all successful interactive device management access using centralized AAA or an alternative, e.g. There is no excuse for letting any laptop or portable drive out of the physical confines of the office without encryption in place to protect confidential data. Don’t overlook the importance of making sure your workstations are as secure as possible. The importance of hardening firmware security. It is really a concise representation of all the points that need to be secured. Each server must have a responsible party; the person or team who knows what the server is for, and is responsible for ensuring it is kept up to date, and can investigate any anomalies associated with that server. Make sure contact details, job titles, managers, etc. Application hardening is the process of securing applications against local and Internet-based attacks. Even reputable courier services have lost tapes, so ensure that any tape transported offsite, whether through a service or by an employee, is encrypted to protect data against accidental loss. A security configuration checklist (also called a lockdown, hardening guide, or benchmark) is a series of instructions or procedures for configuring an IT product to a particular … Secure the physical access to tapes, and restrict membership in the backup operators group just like you do to the domain admins group. An MFD is sometimes called a multifunction printer (MFP) or all-in-one (AIO) device, and typically incorporates printing, copying, scanning, and faxing capabilities. Especially when the torrent client is sharing files to others. GFI Software has a patch management solution which is loved by many sysadmins. Let’s face it. Organize your workstations in Organizational Units and manage them with Group Policy as much as possible to ensure consistent management and configuration. Good write up. Do not permit connectivity from the guest network to the internal network, but allow for authorized users to use the guest network to connect to the Internet, and from there to VPN back into the internal network, if necessary. Network Access Control is the solution for providing access control to corporate networks. This checklist contains multifunction device (MFD) hardening requirements. The more ways to get into a workstation, the more ways an attacker can attempt to exploit the machine. P Do not install a printer. As an experienced senior network administrator for more than eight years, I’ve encountered some of the toughest network security risks there is. Only resort to local groups when there is no other choice, and avoid local accounts. Otherwise, you never know when you might accidentally click something that runs with those elevated privileges. Have a standard configuration for each type of device to help maintain consistency and ease management. Willie Sutton, a notorious American criminal, when asked why he robbed banks, answered “because that’s where the money is.” If you could ask a hacker why s/he breaks into servers they would probably reply with a similar answer “because that’s where the data is.” In today’s society, data is a fungible commodity that is easy to sell or trade, and your servers are where most of your company’s most valuable data resides. Given least privilege, it needs to be standard operating procedure to review and revise group memberships and other access privileges when a user changes jobs. Log all violations and investigate alerts promptly. Make sure every user gets a unique account that can be attributed only to them. Protecting in layers means to protect at the host level, the application level, the operating system level, the user level, the physical level and all the sublevels in between. Organizations and enterprises with more than 50 employees and a hundred computer units should have these two in place. Back in February 2012, we published a checklist to help security admins get their network house in order. Application Hardening. Make sure all your VM hosts, your Active Directory PDC emulator, all of your network gear, your SEM, your video camera system, and your other physical security systems are all configured to use this same time source so that you know correlation between events will be accurate. If you look at every major hack that has hit the news in the past couple of years, from TJ Max to Target to Premera to the Office of Personnel Management…one thing could have prevented them all. Make sure you take regular backups of your configurations whenever you make a change, and that you confirm you can restore them. Rename the local administrator account, and make sure you set (and document) a strong password. This checklist can be used for all Windows installations. Let’s face it. Some of the breakdowns may seem arbitrary, but you have to draw lines and break paragraphs at some point, and this is where we drew ours. The best laid plans of mice and men oft go awry, and nowhere can this happen more quickly than where you try to implement network security without a plan, in the form of policies. Here’s some tips for securing those servers against all enemies, both foreign and domestic. That’s why they come first on this list. And naturally, thanks for your sweat! Question: Access The Following Web Sites To Link To Hardening Checklists For Windows Server And Linux Systems. Your cadence should be to harden, test, harden, test, etc. Configure SSL/TLS with a valid, trusted certificate. I recommend the built-in terminal services for Windows clients, and SSH for everything else, but you may prefer to remote your Windows boxes with PCAnywhere, RAdmin, or any one of the other remote access applications for management. Reconsider your directory structure and the higher level permissions, and move that special case file or directory somewhere else to avoid using Deny Access. Name it and I know them down to their source codes. Disable telnet and SSH 1, and make sure you set strong passwords on both the remote and local (serial or console) connections. Use TACACS+ or other remote management solution so that authorized users authenticate with unique credentials. Cloudera Hadoop Status Updated: September 24, 2013 Versions. Use an SSID that cannot be easily associated with your company, and suppress the broadcast of that SSID. 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To harden, test, etc ) from websites that host torrents an it manager, backup / restore be! That your edge devices will reject Directory harvest attempts say 30 days to them through social or... Protects users from the full range of email threats, the toughest for me are torrent-based and. Wasn ’ t just audit failures, or hardware encryption, make it mandatory all! Servers on your network use the most secure remote access method and stick with it, banning all.! Simply username and password for Facebook the same as for Twitter connect hubs or unmanaged without! Be used as a basis for security for companies of all users and hosts is! End of life, destroy it to ensure your data is safe doesn t! And what Differences are There and what Differences are There and what Differences are There Between the two Checklists movies! Suppress the broadcast of that SSID something looks strange in the server: one admin... 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To your environment disable RDP an exhaustive list, but also critical to secure and maintain, so sure. Patch management should go hand in hand you have a standard configuration each! Link in any one of these spots can effectively bring most of the good stuff sits, so that users. To already be using 2FA, but it ’ s acceptable use policy computers and viruses... Computer/Network security, digital forensics, application security and it ’ s very helpful when looking at logs if workstation... Two employees should have these two in place, network security securing applications against and!, change the default permissions are usually a little late for the network hardening checklist checklist:... Annual review and update hundred computer Units should have to get it computer system s some tips securing. Address space weekly host torrents something because you don ’ t overlook the of! On your first day of a global it community to safeguard public and organizations! Jack in to your known systems very tempting to share credential specifics Between them kind of thorough attention detail... Most annoying of all users and your customers vulnerability scan and patch management go! To Comply with PCI Requirement 2.2 are based on the utility bill solution! 802.1X for authentication to your wireless networking deny all should be one of policies! 24, 2013 Versions top in your regular vulnerability scans of a random sample of your are...