Methods of Securing Data in Windows Networks Mark Boyer

Ways To Secure Data On A Network Authentication and Authorization Encryption/decryption Virtual Private Networks (VPN) Firewalls Virus and Worm Protection Spyware Protection Wireless Security

Authentication and Authorization Authentication – security feature that allows administrators to control who has access to your network Authorization – what the users that are authenticated are allowed to access while on the system

Windows Password Tools Specify length and complexity of users passwords XP allows passwords to be from 0 to 128 characters Complexity setting requires user to meet 3 of 4 requirements Lower case letters, uppercase letters, numbers, and special characters

Windows Password Tools cont. Minimum Password Age – min amount of days before user can change their password Maximum Password Age – max amount of day before user has to change their password Enforce Password History Setting – makes sure users can not reuse older passwords Account Lockout – can set system to lock out a user if they enter the wrong password to many times Can set to unlock manually or automatically

Restricting Logon Hours & Location Windows administrators can set time of day, day of week, and location of accessing the networks Restricting reasons System backup Don’t want anyone on the system during this process Policy restrictions You don’t want people that deal with sensitive materials to be able to access them out of the office

Windows Authorizing Access Two Ways Sharing permissions NTFS Permissions

Sharing Permissions Applied only to folders shared over the network Files within these folders inherit same permissions as the folder Permissions only apply to users trying to access through the network, not locally

NTFS Permissions Can assign to both folders and files Also can restrict local users as well as ones logged in over the network Assign permissions to individual users or groups of users Has 6 different standard permissions and 14 different special permissions

Windows & Encryption Encoding of data used to protect data transferred over a network or the internet Two ways of windows encryption IP Security (IPSec) Encrypting File Systems (EFS)

IPSec Most popular method of encrypting data It works by creating an connection between two devices Done by one of three ways of authenticating Preshared key – special key entered on both devices by an admin Kerberos authentication – special key generated by the OS (more secure) Digital certificates – uses a third party known as Certification Authority (CA) Must apply for a digital certificate from CA When comunication takes place each device sends certificate to CA for verification

Three Standard IPSec Policies in Windows Client (Respond Only) – only uses secure communication if the other device suggests it Server (Request Security) – requests IPSec communication if its supported Allows unsecure communication if it isn't supported Secure Server (Require Security) – requires IPSec Rejects any device that does not support it

Encrypting File Systems (EFS) Process of encrypting data on the computers disk drive so that only the file creator and data recovery agent can decrypt it Data recovery agent usually administrator This is useful if someone gains access to your hard drive

Windows VPN’s Temporary or permanent connections across a network such as the internet that use encryption to send and receive data. Leave it at that (other students topic)

Firewalls Hardware or software programs that inspects packets going in and out of the system weeding out ones that are not desired Windows has implemented its own personal firewall into it operating system It basically monitors traffic in and out of the system and stops anything suspicious and possibly harmful

Online Firewall Software ZoneAlarm Firewall Armor2net Personal Firewall 3.12 Commando Firewall Pro Tiny Personal Firewall 6.5 There are tons of them

Malware Protection Any software that is meant to cause harm or disruption to any computer system Virus program that spreads by replicating itself into other programs or documents Goal corrupt or delete files Worm Self contained program that spreads by replicating itself Does not need help to spread Goals send emails, delete files, create backdoors, use up network bandwidth

Malware cont. Trojans Spyware (sniffing software) program that appears to be something useful but is really a form of malware such as free utilities Spyware (sniffing software) Collects info about activities on the computer they are on and reports them back to one who put them on there

Anti Virus Software Can be expensive to maintain but it is much more expensive to lose critical company data Available Software AVG Anti-Virus Free Addition AVAST home addition Avira AntiVir Personal – Free Antivirus Norton AntiVirus McAfee Virus Scan Plus

Spyware Software Removes spyware that is on your computer system Ad-Aware 2008 Spybot – Search & Destroy Spyware Doctor 5.5 SpywareBlaster 4.1

Wireless Security You want to protect your wireless signal from wardrivers 5 ways of doing this (Use at least one if not a few) Service Set Identifier (SSID) Alphanumeric label that identifies one LAN from another Wired Equivalency Protocol (WEP) provides data encryption in a network Uses a static encryption key Wi-Fi Protected Access (WPA) Improvement over WEP Alters encryption key periodically and automatically 802.11i (WPA2) Better encryption and encryption key handling MAC address filtering Used on small networks Restricts network access to specific MAC addresses

Citations Cnet. Retrieved October 1, 2008, Web site: http://www.download.com Windows IT Library. Retrieved October 1, 2008, Web site http://www.windowsitlibrary.com Greg Tomsho, Ed Tittle, David Jhonson. (2007) Guide to Networking Esentials, Fifth Edition.