Security Basics mailing list archives
Re: MS Patches Management software: SUS vs 3rd party
From: Ansgar -59cobalt- Wiechers <bugtraq () planetcobalt net>
Date: Tue, 28 Oct 2003 11:48:35 +0100
On 2003-10-27 Andres Martinez wrote:
125 servers: 80% Windows 2000 - 20 % Windows NT 4.0 (They are planning to get rid of NT servers soon) All servers on same physical location. There is no central administration of servers: Server managment provided for different people with different Technical skills. Hard to get control. Few IT resources. By default Windows installations = High risk of security problems. Lack of security policies for server management and security. Very reactive to solve problems. Lack of software or scripts to automatize processes like patches deployment. They already have had serious problems due to virus like welchia and blaster who exploit know security vulnerabilities. Corporate Symantec antivirus used for virus protection, but not installed on all servers, problems with antivirus updates on some servers. It is hard to obtain approval for reboot servers due to mission critical role and business nature (healthcare industry), so minimun downtime is required. What would you use ?
I wouldn't do automatic updates on servers at all. A better approach (IMHO) would be to subdivide the servers into groups (based on the functionality they provide) and have an Administrator being responsible for each group of servers. Keep in mind that just patching is *not* sufficient as long as the servers are wide open (I read "default Windows installations" that way) and you don't have at least some kind of security policy. Since you're saying that at least some servers are considered mission critical, clustering may be an option to increase availability. This has the additional advantage that you can patch and reboot single servers without the service becoming unavailable. Just a few thoughts. Regards Ansgar Wiechers --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Forum Systems PRESIDIO: PGP / XML GATEWAY APPLIANCE The Presidio integrates PGP data encryption and XML Web Services security to simplify the management and deployment of PGP and reduce overall PGP costs by up to 80%. FREE WHITEPAPER & 30 Day Trial - http://www.securityfocus.com/sponsor/ForumSystems_security-basics_031027 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Current thread:
- MS Patches Management software: SUS vs 3rd party Andres Martinez (Oct 27)
- Re: MS Patches Management software: SUS vs 3rd party Alvin (Oct 28)
- Re: MS Patches Management software: SUS vs 3rd party Ansgar -59cobalt- Wiechers (Oct 28)
- Re: MS Patches Management software: SUS vs 3rd party Charles Otstot (Oct 28)
- <Possible follow-ups>
- Re: MS Patches Management software: SUS vs 3rd party Nicholas Diotte (Oct 28)