Cyber Warfare

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In these days of all-out combat in ...
... attacks in NewYork and Anthrax in ...
it's easy to lose one's ... I knowI've become addicted to checking the major news web s In these days of all-out combat in Afghanistan, terrorist attacks in NewYork and Anthrax in Washington, it's easy to lose one's perspective.
I knowI've become addicted to checking the major news web sites several times aday. I now listen to the news radio stations on the way to and from workinstead of my normal rock and roll station.
It seems like something mighthappen at any moment, and I want to know immediately.Something that seemed to be mentioned in every IT related publication forthe last year or so is the possibility of cyber warfare. This is the conceptof attacking a country through it's information systems (specifically theinternet).Since the attacks I've seen the number of articles go from a few per weekdozens per day.
Warnings about security risks seem to be popping up all overthe place. It is important that these warning be taken seriously - it's timeto wake up folks and get your systems locked down.What could be attacked? Just about every company has an internet connectionthese days.
Many of those companies do not have good security, as is provenby the recent Nimda and Code Red outbreaks, as well as numerous penetrationsby hackers.If you are an IT manager you probably need to ask yourself some importantquestions to be prepared for the possibility of attack. In fact, it is yourpatriotic duty to be sure your systems are safe and secure.
To do otherwisenot only puts your company in danger, it actually threatens, even in a smallway, the security of your country.Does your organization really need to be attached to the internet at all? -This is the first question to ask yourself. I know it seems like everyworkstation at every company must be attached to the internet, is it reallynecessary? Does it add to the company bottom line? For many companies, theanswer is yes, for others no.Is the information that you provide to the internet community appropriate? -This question has come up on a large number of government and utility sites.Is it really necessary, for example, to include a map of a power plant? Iknow this might seem useful to, say, schools for educational purposes, butit may also be even more useful to terrorists and other evil-doers.Is your backup and archive strategy sound? - The most important single taskthat you perform is backups.
Do them regularly and check the dataoccasionally.Are your password policies good enough? - The weakest link in most securityschemes is the user and his or her passwords. If your management will allowit, make sure your users have long, complex passwords which they changeregularly.
Enforce best practices with their passwords.If your front line security adequate? - Have you got firewalls installed?Regardless of whether you've got a home computer or a hundred million dollarcomplex, you'd better install a firewall if you have not done so already. Ahardware firewall is the best solution, but a software one will do for ahome system if money is tight.Have you defined a DMZ? - If you manage a network for a company, you shouldreexamine your firewall strategy to ensure that you have a proper DMZ.
Whatis a DMZ? To simplify it a bit, it's a way to protect your applicationservers even if your web servers are compromised. You have your coreapplication systems behind a firewall.
On the outside of that firewall youplace your web servers. Then to protect them you put another firewall.Is your virus protection adequate? - If you haven't installed antivirussoftware by this time, shame on you.
It does not matter whether you run anetwork of ten thousand computers or a cheap home system, you'd better havethis basic application not only installed, but regularly updating.Is your system patched properly? - All vendors release software with bugs.It is the responsibility of all system managers to periodically reviewoperating system and applications patches and releases and update them asneeded. Remember, even the Apache web server is ridiculously insecure if notproperly patched.Are you educated on security? - If you haven't already, look around and findsome books, classes or information about security.
Become educated as fastas you can. Once you understand security, then propose, plan and implementwhat you have learned.Do you perform background checks on IT related positions? - All new hiresinto IT should have thorough background checks before they are hired.
Youshould also check the backgrounds of all of your IT consultants. It's bestto know who you are hiring before you hire.Is your user community educated about security? - Perhaps one of the besttasks you can perform is to educate your users on good security practices.Emphasize the reasons why security is important and how it protects yourusers.
I usually stress that security penetrations are a direct threat totheir employment. Spend some time explaining and demonstrating how socialengineering works - this is the number one way break-ins occur.Do you have a working disaster plan? - To be perfectly prepared, ensure thatyou have a working, tested, debugged disaster plan ready at all times.
Thatway if for some reason your primary systems are rendered useless you canstill have a running company.Is your security plan confidential? - The less information you haveavailable to evil-doers the better. Keep any information about how yoursystems are secured confidential - treat it on a need-to-know basis.Remember this important fact.
As of September 11th the United States and allof the free nations are in a war. And when your country is in a state of waryou had better be prepared to be attacked.
It's the only sane thing to do. Article Tags: Cyber Warfare, About Security Source: Free Articles from ArticlesFactory.com .