Security is essential to maintain a functioning network and productive employees. These security recommendations should be implemented to ensure a safe and secure operating network where there are minimal fears from outside influences such as viruses, spam and hacking activities. An electronic workplace policy will be implemented to protect the network from within. All employees are required to follow the electronic workplace policy which states that they are not to install any unauthorized software or hardware on company equipment. Violations of the electronic workplace policy will be grounds for disciplinary action leading to termination of employment. This is a necessary tactic used to ensure business equipment is used for business and not for personal pleasure or personal business.
To protect this size of a network from viruses and worms, there will be an email and file extension filtering program that scans through the
Los Angeles central location. The product we recommend is created by Symantec. It is the corporate edition product which allows the freedom from user input. The closed loop automation process allows the detection of new and existing viruses and worms, and the removal of these viruses and worms. The definition file will be updated on a daily basis and will happen at an optimum time where the network usage is at its daily low. There is also an automatic quarantine for files which have become infected and a secure transmission back to Symantec for analysis. This virus protection software will be implemented through a silent install to all users across the network.
As for spam attacks, we recommend F-Prot solution for this major problem. F-Prot provides full email scanning and up to date definition files for known spammers. This type of software will eliminate the unwanted emails for all of the networks users. The product will automatically update spam/virus signatures and quarantine these problems.
There is also a need for protection from hackers. There is state of the art software program and tools to prevent malicious attacks on your network. We recommend the solution from NFR Security. The Sentivist solution protects against Denial of Service (DoS), Intrusions, Malicious Code, Command Tampering, Backdoor and Buffer Overflow attacks. There is a real threat to a network everyday and this program will protect your multi city network.
We will protect the network both LAN and WAN by installing a firewall and web monitoring software called Websense. The firewall will protect the network. Network protection via the firewall will include stateful packet inspection, which inspects the header information carried in each packet but also, it will also examine the contents of the packet all the way to the application layer. The firewall admin will have the ability to implement rules to ensure network integrity through the firewall. The firewall will also control the user’s access to the outside World Wide Web and also filter content with Websense. The Websense product will prohibit company users from viewing objectionable material through our network. This product is customizable to fit the business goals and will be maintained by the information security staff. The IS staff will be able to monitor and run reports on Websense activity and gather information weekly status reports for managements review. This product is to ensure the employees are safe from questionable material on websites where automatic downloads and browser hi-jacks can and do occur.
As far as outgoing traffic to the World Wide Web, we will be using technology called network address translation to broadcast one IP address. This is important because network address translation protects and hides the users IP addresses behind the firewall and help eliminate the possible hacking attacks by IP address. Natting the IP addresses will also allow the admin staff to use multiple IP addresses inside the network the without worry of IP conflicts both internally and externally.
There is a need for a gateway which can direct traffic for all network hacking attempts. Using an intrusion detection system (IDS), we can route this hacker type traffic to a location off of the network. This location will serve as a honey pot for the hacker. It is designed to fool the hacker into thinking they are actually attacking a live network full of servers and clients, while in reality, we will be gathering information on the hacking attempt like trace routes and possible locations. This will give an edge to our security staff in locating and prosecuting these illegal activities.
Security is a major concern in today’s information technology world. The purpose of these recommendations is to save the company time and money by implementing the most up to date software programs for network protection.
Resources
http://www.nfr.net/solutions/index.php retrieved on March 10, 2005
http://www.symantec.com retrieved on March 10, 2005
http://www.f-prot.com retrieved on March 10, 2005
