RE: Basic Windows Security Question

["Reece, Terry" <terry.reece () nmci-isf com>]

This is something the folks I work with were discussing here the other day as well. I would say that disabling the USB 
port isn't the primary concern, and there is a bigger issue at hand. I certainly wouldn't want people on my network 
taking company data and putting in on their personal PCs, or any PC outside of company control. Obviously money is an 
issue, but employee's who want to work on things at home and have a legitimate business need should have a laptop. 

OK...back to the real world...

I think the most viable solution is a policy statement that specifically addresses this issue, and make sure that 
message is conveyed to the end user and that it is understood. An example could be that USB thumb drives are ok, but 
with the caveat that the other PC must have such and such AV program installed, updated, etc. I would also think that 
most (<~keyword) AV programs are going to catch key loggers as well, although there are a few that could slip through, 
but then you fall into the whole "defense in depth" idea.

./ramble off

Terry
-----Original Message-----
From: Andrew McIntosh [mailto:amcintosh () networkadvocates com]
Sent: Tuesday, March 29, 2005 16:21
To: security-basics () securityfocus com
Subject: Basic Windows Security Question


Hello Everybody,

I am curious to see the different suggestions for this scenario:

Suppose you have a small company of less than 100 employees. One of the
employees likes to bring his work home on occasion. He does so using a
USB thumb drive. One day he catches a [virus, worm, Trojan, spyware,
anything you can think of] at home and it winds up on his thumb drive,
which he in turn brings to the company network.

The company certainly should have anti-virus software in place, which
would fix that problem. But what if he unknowingly loads a key logging
program that could capture private customer information? What do you
suggest? Here is what I could think of so far:

Disable USB Port - That would solve the particular problem and create
other problems. For instance, substitute the thumb drive with a floppy
disk or CD. For obvious reasons you don't want to disable those as well.

Restrict user permissions - That could potentially prevent a program
from installing itself, but it would also cause the user some grief if
they need to install programs themselves, or even do simple things like
changing personal settings.

Security Policy - Haven't looked into this yet, but maybe there is a way
to prevent the use of thumb drives and other specific devices through
security policy.

What do you think?

Thanks!

====================
amcintosh () ntad com
====================


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