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Business Availability - Call PBM IT at (888) 233-6471With attacks on the rise, businesses and customers need assurance they are protected from the disruption and cost-of-service outages or corrupted data. The proven Cisco Self-Defending Network is a multifaceted approach that protects businesses from the devastating effects of worms, viruses, cyber-terrorists, and other attacks. Computer viruses, worms, and spyware typically enter businesses via e-mail or IM applications, Web downloads, or file transfers, although sophisticated attacks can enter via mobile wireless services or operating system services. Industry-leading Cisco Intrusion Prevention Systems (IPSs) scan and inspect all incoming traffic in real time, looking for known irregularities that may signal an attack. If an anomaly is detected, a Cisco security appliance rates the severity of the risk and communicates to other security-aware network components. This way, they can stop the threat at the source immediately and prevent it from spreading through the network. Worms, viruses, and spyware aren’t the only way businesses can be attacked. Cisco security appliances use the same traffic and application inspection capabilities to detect and repel DoS attacks, or other attacks so new they don’t have a name yet. Integrated security throughout the business stops known and unknown attacks in real time, and communication between network components allows them to adapt to changing security conditions. These layers of security allow small and medium-sized businesses to continue to respond to customers and stay open for business even while under attack Managing network security solutions is often challenging. Accomplishing this amidst the changing landscape of mobile workers, virtual data centers, and cloud-based services adds more complexity. To address these challenges, Cisco offers best-in-class operational systems, such as enterprise-grade Cisco Security Manager, that work with a wide variety of third-party management systems. This gives you the flexibility to choose the network security management solutions best suited to your environment and business needs. VPN Services for Cisco ASA Series (1) Provides remote end-user access for up to 10,000 SSL or true IPsec connections, (2) Supports applications and functions unavailable to a clientless, browser-based VPN connection, (3) Allows users to connect to IPv6 resources over IPv4 network tunnels, Nd (4) Facilitates creating user profiles and defining names and addresses of host. Unauthorized access' is a very high-level term that can refer to a number of different sorts of attacks. The goal of these attacks is to access some resource that your machine should not provide the attacker. For example, a host might be a web server, and should provide anyone with requested web pages. However, that host should not provide command shell access without being sure that the person making such a request is someone who should get it, such as a local administrator. The need for security in communication networks is not new. In the late nineteenth century an American undertaker named Almon Strowger discovered that he was losing business to his rivals because telephone operators, responsible for the manual connection of call requests, were unfairly diverting calls from the newly bereaved to his competitors. Strowger developed switching systems that led to the introduction of the first automated telephone exchanges in 1897. This enabled users to make their own connections using rotary dialling to signal the required destination. Test the most important systems first. In general, systems that should be tested first include those systems that are publicly accessible, that is, routers, firewalls, web servers, e-mail servers, and certain other systems that are open to the public, are not protected behind firewalls, or are mission critical systems. Organizations can then use various metrics to determine the importance or criticality of other systems in the organization and proceed to test those systems as well. Operational Security Testing is network security testing conducted during the operational stage of data system life, that is, while the system is operating in its operational environment. One form of attack on computing systems connected to the Internet is eavesdropping on network connections to obtain login ids and passwords of legitimate users [RFC 1704]. Bellcore's S/KEY(TM) one-time password system was designed to counter this type of attack, called a replay attack [RFC 1760]. Several one-time password implementations compatible with Bellcore's S/KEY (TM) system exist. These implementations are increasingly widely deployed in the Internet to protect against passive attacks. Cisco ASA 5500 Series Adaptive Security Appliances (1) Combine firewall, VPN, and optional content security and intrusion prevention to distribute network security across your operations, (2) Provide threat defense and highly secure communications services to stop attacks before they affect business continuity, (3) Reduce deployment and operational costs while delivering comprehensive network security for networks of all sizes, and (4) Support a wide range of environments from small businesses to large enterprises. Auditors face some challenges when reviewing router and firewall configurations. I'm going to discuss a few of them in this article. My assumption is that there is a device hardening standard in place, which points out the key elements of configuration. I am also assuming configuration review is only small, and not the most important part of audit program (design assessment, change control, access control, etc... have to be done as well). |
