WindowSecurity.com Articles & Tutorials Archive

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Articles & Tutorials for July, 2002

Microsoft ISA Server, Part II – Firewall Functions, Publishing Policy Rules: Date - Jul 29, 2002; Author - Adam Zachara; Section - Articles / Firewalls & VPNs; The IT security strategy which is incorporated within ISA Server seems to address the need for secure internal networking, both for small businesses that use a few computers and are connected to the Internet via modem, as well as for large highly-networked corporations using internet connectivity as a routine procedure.
Welcome to the new SecuritySearch.net!: Date - Jul 21, 2002; Author - The Editor; Section - Site News; We've revamped the site and focused it on Windows Network Security. We've added security articles & tutorials, security product reviews and software listings. We have also added 2 new online security tests. Our ‘Email Security Test’ checks whether you are protected against new email viruses and attacks through a series of vulnerability checks. The ‘Event Log Scan’ test allows you to check for high security events happening on your machine. We're still busy adding more content and improving the site, so please check back often.
The Microsoft’s .NET strategy: Date - Jul 19, 2002; Author - Sebastian Serwin; Section - Articles / Windows Networking; “The influence of the Internet is already enormous, but with the rate of innovations which will be introduced in the next five years, it will increase further. Our aim is to move from the present world of autonomous web sites to an Internet of exchangeable components, where tools and services could be united in aggregates. This would secure compact usage and be well-disposed towards a user friendly environment” – It was with these comments that Bill Gates marked a new development in the history of Information Technology. The new strategy of development created by the Redmond Giant is called Microsoft.net (read, dot-net), and was designed to ensure easier and more individualized conditions of activity on the Internet.
SSH: Date - Jul 19, 2002; Author - Pawel Golen; Section - Articles / Authentication, Access Control & Encryption; When I started using the Internet during my University days, an intelligent friend of mine told me that SSH is a client application needed to build up a secure connection with the University’s server. I took his word for it, but later my curiosity prompted me to ask a question “Why?”
Secure Socket Layer: Date - Jul 19, 2002; Author - Tomasz Onyszko; Section - Articles / Authentication, Access Control & Encryption; Security of data in transit over the Internet becomes increasingly necessary because of steadily growing data volume and importance. Nowadays, every user of a public network sends various types of data, from email to credit card details daily, and he would therefore like them to be protected when in transit over a public network. To this end, a practical SSL protocol has been adopted for protection of data in transit that encompasses all network services that use TCP/IP to support typical application tasks of communication between servers and clients.
Locking Down IIS 6.0 with .NET: The Default Security Wizard: Date - Jul 18, 2002; Author - Robert J. Shimonski; Section - Articles / Web Server Security; Yeah, you’ve heard it a million times. How often you hear that IIS has been hacked, another unchecked buffer (the millionth one this year) and no, not another service pack or hot fix!
Windows .NET Server locks down “Everyone”: Date - Jul 18, 2002; Author - Robert J. Shimonski; Section - Articles / Windows OS Security; Well, I thought I would never see the day that Microsoft actually followed up with industry on reversing their infamous “everything open” mentality with their Operating systems when first installed. Before .NET Server, everything was open to everyone by default. In this article let’s look at the major difference in default security settings with the Everyone Group.
Useful security tools/utilities for System administrators: Date - Jul 18, 2002; Author - William Henderson; Section - Articles / Windows OS Security; I have collected a number of useful tools for keeping a network secure. Note that this list is in no way exhaustive. Some of the tools are difficult to find, so you can download them right of this page. Please do not send any email asking support for these tools. For questions, please use the forums. PLEASE NOTE, I am NOT RESPONSIBLE FOR WHAT YOU DO WITH THESE FILES...
The Netbus trojan: Date - Jul 18, 2002; Author - William Henderson; Section - Articles / Windows OS Security; This article gives background information on the various Netbus trojan versions, what they can do and how you can remove them from your system. It also allows you to download the program in order to analyse what it does.
Microsoft ISA Server, Part I – introduction, installation, configuration, Web caching and Internet access: Date - Jul 18, 2002; Author - Sebastian Serwin; Section - Articles / Firewalls & VPNs; Microsoft is trying to present itself as not only the worldwide leading manufacturer of operating systems but also as a top provider of comprehensive IT solutions for business. With its Microsoft Internet Security & Acceleration Server, the Redmond software giant is approaching this goal. This is Part I of a series of articles on ISA Server: its origin, complexity, benefits and shortcomings.
Port Scanning ISA Server: Date - Jul 17, 2002; Author - Thomas Shinder; Section - Articles / Misc Network Security; When I wrote my series on how to secure your ISA Server installation, I had it in mind that ISA Server administrators could use the information to confirm whether or not their ISA Server installations we’re secure. We got some good feedback on the series, but you wanted more! Specifically, you wanted to know how you could test (via port scanning tools) what ports and services were visible and available on the external interface of the ISA server.
Creating a Poor Man’s DMZ Part 1 - Using TCP/IP Security: Date - Jul 17, 2002; Author - Thomas Shinder; Section - Articles / Windows Networking; A common issue that pops up on the www.isaserver.org web boards is how to configure a DMZ segment on a trihomed ISA Server. Setting up a trihomed ISA Server with a directly attached segment acting as a DMZ is fairly simple.
VPN Client Security Issues: Date - Jul 17, 2002; Author - Thomas Shinder; Section - Articles / Firewalls & VPNs; You've implemented a ISA/VPN Server to allow secure remote connections to your internal network. While you might have configured your VPN Server in a secure manner, what about your VPN clients? In this article I'll talk about important issues regarding VPN client configuration and how it impacts network security.
Configuring Gateway to Gateway L2TP/IPSec VPNs Part 2: Configuring the Infrastructure: Date - Jul 17, 2002; Author - Thomas Shinder; Section - Articles / Firewalls & VPNs; In part 1 of this series on how to configure an L2TP/IPSec gateway to gateway VPN solution, we examined how to configure the certificate infrastructure and assign machine certificates on the local network. This week, we’ll complete our gateway to gateway VPN configuration.
Configuring Gateway to Gateway L2TP/IPSec VPNs Part 1: Configuring the Infrastructure: Date - Jul 17, 2002; Author - Thomas Shinder; Section - Articles / Firewalls & VPNs; Configuring a gateway to gateway VPN is easy using ISA Server. The reason why it’s so easy is that the Local and Remote VPN Wizards make the setup a virtual no-brainer. Well, it’s a no-brainer when you’re configuring PPTP VPN gateways. But if you’re in the market for a high security L2TP/IPSec gateway to gateway VPN, you probably have either been trying to avoid it like the plague or you are pulling your hair out trying to figure out how to make it work!
Securing the ISA Server Configuration - ISA Server Security Checklist (Part 2): Date - Jul 17, 2002; Author - Thomas Shinder; Section - Articles / Firewalls & VPNs; In part one of our ISA Server Security checklist series, we talked about how to secure the operating system and network interfaces on the ISA Server. In part 2 we'll focus on ISA Server specific configuration issues that you can use to optimize security.
Securing the Operating System and the Interface: Date - Jul 17, 2002; Author - Thomas Shinder; Section - Articles / Windows OS Security; ISA Server is all about security. ISA is about securing network access into and out of the internal network. But after you’ve done all of your configuring, how do you know that you’ve done an adequate job of securing the internal network and the system that ISA Server is running on?
Configuring VPN Access in a Back to Back ISA Server Environment: Date - Jul 16, 2002; Author - Thomas Shinder; Section - Articles / Firewalls & VPNs; VPNs have been a topic of growing interest for the last couple years. However, since the tragic events in New York City in September of 2001, the subject has become red-hot. Why? Business and network managers now have a greater awareness that the weakest link in any design, whether it be a network or a business, is too high a level of centralization. Distributed systems are highly fault tolerant and difficult to bring down, while centralized systems can be brought to their knees with a single blow.
How to Block Dangerous Instant Messengers Using ISA Server: Date - Jul 16, 2002; Author - Thomas Shinder; Section - Articles / Authentication, Access Control & Encryption; I get a lot of questions about how can ISA Server be used to block dangerous applications. What is a dangerous application?
Configuring ISA Server For Inbound VPN Calls: Date - Jul 16, 2002; Author - Thomas Shinder; Section - Articles / Firewalls & VPNs; You've implemented a ISA/VPN Server to allow secure remote connections to your internal network. While you might have configured your VPN Server in a secure manner, what about your VPN clients? In this article I'll talk about important issues regarding VPN client configuration and how it impacts network security.
Immediate intrusion detection: Catching hackers red-handed on your web server!: Date - Jul 15, 2002; Author - GFI Software; Section - Network Security Library / Intrusion Detection; This white paper focuses on how administrators can set up their web servers successfully and safely. Describing the tools used by hackers to gain backdoor access to your IIS web servers, this paper details the necessary steps to detect successful intrusions on your network, as well as explaining how to prevent such attacks to your web server.
Log-based intrusion-detection and -analysis in Windows 2000/NT: Date - Jul 15, 2002; Author - GFI Software; Section - Network Security Library / Intrusion Detection; This white paper demonstrates that the audit and reporting facilities in Microsoft Windows NT and Microsoft Windows 2000, although a good foundation, fall far short of fulfilling real-life business needs. Therefore, the need exists for a log-based intrusion-detection and -analysis tools.
Email security: Date - Jul 15, 2002; Author - GFI Software; Section - Network Security Library / Anti Virus; This white paper provides useful background information on email security issues. It will help you examine the security threats facing your corporate email system and determine what kind of email security solution your company needs.
Protecting your network against email threats: How to block email viruses and attacks: Date - Jul 15, 2002; Author - GFI Software; Section - Network Security Library / Anti Virus; This white paper describes various methods used by email viruses and worms to penetrate a protected network. Such methods include attachment files containing harmful code, social engineering attacks, crafted MIME headers, malicious use of HTML Script and similar technologies. A URL is provided where you can test whether your email system is vulnerable to threats like these. This document also examines the ways through which email can be sanitized and filtered of malicious code using GFI’s email content/exploit checking and anti-virus solution based on Microsoft's virus scanning API (VS API), GFI MailSecurity for Exchange/SMTP.
Why You Need an Email Exploit Detection Engine: Networks Must Supplement Anti-Virus Protection for Maximum Security: Date - Jul 15, 2002; Author - GFI Software; Section - Network Security Library / Anti Virus; Virus-writers are using increasingly complex and sophisticated techniques in their bid to circumvent anti-virus software and disseminate their viruses. Email security tools must evolve in the same way if such threats are to be blocked before they can cause harm. This paper examines how anti-virus software, though essential, cannot combat such threats and shows why an email exploit detection tool is also necessary.
Windows XP: Access control via Security: Date - Jul 15, 2002; Author - Johannes Helmig; Section - Articles / Authentication, Access Control & Encryption; Windows XP Professional offers (in addition to the User Access control in Network Sharing) also the possibility to control access to file via Security:
Windows XP Professional Edition: Local Security Policies: Date - Jul 15, 2002; Author - Johannes Helmig; Section - Articles / Windows OS Security; Windows XP Professional Edition allows full User Management and Security. The permissions assigned to the Usergroups (assigned in User Management to users) are defined in the Local Security Policies:
Security concerns on Internet connections (Dialup-Connection to the Internet): Date - Jul 15, 2002; Author - Johannes Helmig; Section - Articles / Windows OS Security; Please be aware of a serious security issue, in case your system is connected to a local network and is also configured to use Dialup-networking for connection to the Internet.
Enforcing Network Login via POLEDIT: Date - Jul 15, 2002; Author - Johannes Helmig; Section - Articles / Authentication, Access Control & Encryption; This procedure is more detailed than actually required, because I use it also as an example on usage of the "System Policy Editor" ( POLEDIT ) on the local Registry and on downloading a profile from the Network server.