Educause Security Discussion mailing list archives

FW: Home Access


From: Danny Lee <abqdan () UNM EDU>
Date: Mon, 7 Nov 2005 10:51:11 -0700

Depending on how much you can afford, security proximity devices do
exist for computer systems. They are becoming more affordable. An
example (though I have not used this product):
http://www.ensuretech.com/products/overview/overview.html. This type of
device can deal with users walking away from PCs under your control.

As far as Starbucks is concerned, you could implement IP filtering to
prevent off-site access to critical resources. What possible reason is
there for a user to log in to a restricted system that contains HIPPA
protected content at a Starbucks?

And to still allow permitted home access, VPN tunnelling would support
what you need.

--Danny

Danny Lee
Knowledge Management Specialist,
University of New Mexico



-----Original Message-----
From: Dan Roberts [mailto:ddrobert () KENT EDU]
Sent: Monday, November 07, 2005 9:36 AM
To: SECURITY () LISTSERV EDUCAUSE EDU
Subject: Re: [SECURITY] Home Access

I don't believe you'll ever find a technological solution to the type of
scenario you describe, where a user logs in from a public place and then
leaves that session unattended.  No matter how idiot-proof your
solution, the potential is always there that it'll be defeated by a
better idiot!
:-)  This type of problem needs to be attacked through user education,
policy and sanctions.  You can find a comfort zone, but you'll never
eliminate the risk completely.

If remote desktop access is absolutely necessary (I have to assume
you've already established that), you could use a system to check a PC's
compliance with the HIPPA requirements, prior to letting it access your
resources.  This could be accomplished by requiring access from a
managed laptops.. or with a VPN device like Juniper's SSLVPN that can
perform host-checks prior to letting the user log on (requires an agent
running on the PC).  The concept would be similar to Cisco Clean Access,
if you're familiar with that.

Dan Roberts
Office of Security and Compliance
Information Services Division
Kent State University

330-672-5373
ddrobert () kent edu

David Grisham <DGrisham () SALUD UNM EDU> wrote on 11/04/2005 05:50:47 PM:

How if at all does anyone give home access to workers from the health
science center & university hospital?  HIPAA has a specific
workstation security implementation specification that requires the
institution to ensure that workstations accessing Electronic Protected

Health Information (ePHI) be secure.  We can make sure that our
workstations have the latest security patches, firewalls & up to date
anti virus software.  We currently loan secure images to our home
transcriptionists.  However, Internet access is here and our medical
staff does need to work from home or from other sites with Internet
access.

I would be glad to talk with anyone from any institution who was
considering a portal, Internet access or just home access to ePHI and
what we're doing to ensure that our workforce does not open up patient

records at Starbucks, walk away from a screen in a public area, or use

any workstation that does not meet are minimum security requirements.


Cheers. -grish
David D. Grisham, Ph.D.,  CISM, CHS III Manager, IT Security, UNM
Hospitals, Information Technology 1650 University Blvd,  S.500,
Albuquerque, NM 87102
Ph: (505) 272-5657 FAX 272-3305
Work email:  dgrisham () salud unm edu
Adjunct Faculty, Computer Science, UNM Academic & personal email:
dave () unm edu


vphung () SCIENCE SJSU EDU 11/4/2005 2:46:22 PM >>>
For remote access

Email - webmail with SSL v3 only
Web related - WebDAV with SSL v3 only
All others - Remote desktop via tunnel using SSH v2 only

SSH tunneling works really well with either VNC (Mac and *NIX) or RDC
(Windows) from home (DSL for better performance). It's easy to
implement and required almost no maintenance since most of us has an
SSH server somewhere on a network where a user's computer can be
reached. Instruction is here

http://ncs.science.sjsu.edu/vphung/index.php?HOW_TO:RDC

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Vuong Phung
Operating Systems Administrator
College of Science - Dean's Office

San Jose State University
One Washington Square
San Jose, CA 95192-0099
Duncan Hall 33

Tel 1.408.924.5056
Fax 1.408.924.5033
Web http://ncs.science.sjsu.edu/helpdesk
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

-----Original Message-----
From: clementz.7 [mailto:clementz.7 () OSU EDU]
Sent: Friday, November 04, 2005 12:02 PM
To: SECURITY () LISTSERV EDUCAUSE EDU
Subject: [SECURITY] Home Access


How many schools allow remote access and what types of access do you
allow.  Please email me directly and I will give you my phone number
to talk more securly.
.  We have faculty that are pushing more and more for remote access,
but we do not have the manpower to support it.  Just curious if others

are experiencing the same issues.

Todd Clementz
Systems Administrator
The Austin E. Knowlton School of Architecture The Ohio State
University Support Site.  http://support.knowlton.ohio-state.edu
clementz.7 () osu edu

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