October 11, 2004

Lessons I learned: Ramping Up Security is a full time job. But here's some do it yourself tools

Over the last few days my ISP has warned me that it's getting complaints of "abuse" from my server. Hmmm...what to do? What could it be? I thought of calling my friend and security expert Nick Braak (right) but I have not done so - yet.

In any case, maybe my working environment is a bit like yours, a wireless network, a few servers, some client PCs, a fast internet connection and etc. So many areas for a hacker to invade and attack.

Well here's what I did.

1) Updated all computers to the latest version of Windows (Windows XP service Pack 2, for XP and all updates for Windows 2000)

2) Scanned all computers for viruses and ensure anti-virus software (Symantec Corporate Edition) is running on all of them

3) Download the free version of Zone Labs Zone Alarm so it can block and I can be alerted to any outbound data (or inbound) from client computers that should not be there.

4) I also have hardened my wireless network

All this has shown me one main thing to HIRE A SECURITY CONSULTANT to take half a day or so and harden all the entire network. For example I installed Zone Alarm and thought the program was at fault for disabling many of my PC's when in fact I had not configured it right! Out of the box it blocks a lot and one must manually configure it to access various network and Internet resources.

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