RE: Question about DMZ Domain Member and Virus Membership

["Dan Bogda" <dan.bogda () kintera com>]

First of all patch and update religiously, the less vulnerabilities, the
less risk. 
Second, plan for the worst. Assume your servers get hacked and fully
controlled, document what information the hacker can obtain, what access
they can exploit, what it will take to rebuild from scratch, etc. 
Third, check your system and AV logs and other evidence trails for
suspicious and normal behavior regularly. I include normal behavior
because it helps cut down on false alarms and gives you a baseline for
anomalous behavior. 
And fourth, test and audit the servers regularly. It is better to know
your vulnerabilities than to assume your security. 

If you wanted, you could wrap 3 & 4 up into creating a
review/maintenance schedule and sticking to it. Servers typically get
hacked right out of the gate due to insufficient patching for known
vulnerabilities or later in the life cycle when patching falls behind
and people forget what services/vulnerabilities are on the server.
Practice due care/diligence, keep reading and keep asking questions.
You're already off to a good start.

-----Original Message-----
From: Adam T [mailto:123security () gmail com] 
Sent: Wednesday, March 22, 2006 4:01 AM
To: security-basics () securityfocus com
Subject: Re: Question about DMZ Domain Member and Virus Membership

Thank you both for your comments.
Now to follow this up further. If I shut down un-needed services and
restrict access to machine ports from the internet as needed IE port
80 on one machine, port 25  on another. what else is recommended? What
is the next goal/level to try to achieve.

On 20/03/06, Dan Bogda <dan.bogda () kintera com> wrote:
> They should have as few connections into your network as you can
afford.
> Ideally you are building a DMZ to insulate your internal network from
> external threats. If you are building the DMZ to shield your Domain
from
> windows threats it doesn't make sense to extend that Domain into the
> DMZ. There are always exceptions based on acceptable risk, budget and
> business requirements. This really comes down to a question of the
risks
> and benefits the various options present for your company/client and
how
> willing they are to accept them.
>
> For example, if you are adding a lot of users or duplicate users it
may
> make sense to allow the DMZ hosts to participate in the domain rather
> than manually updating two sets of hosts. Or, same scenario, it may
make
> more sense to hire a contractor to create an automated event that can
> push changes to your DMZ, instead of the DMZ hosts participating in
the
> domain and pulling updates. You should really document your options,
the
> risk and benefit of each and let management decide what is worth
> pursuing.
>
> In short, best practice would be to leverage the DMZ and not allow it
to
> connect into your internal network. Instead, configure this as a no
> man's land and only allow connections into the environment, not out.
> Harden your DMZ boxes, disable unused services and don't put anything
on
> there you are worried about losing. If clients are uploading files,
pull
> them off as soon as you can. The more valuable data sitting on a DMZ
> host the more valuable a target it becomes.
>
> Of course, this is just another opinion and carries no guarantees.
Your
> actual mileage may vary. Hope this helps, good luck.
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Adam T [mailto:123security () gmail com]
> Sent: Sunday, March 19, 2006 6:01 PM
> To: security-basics () securityfocus com
> Subject: Question about DMZ Domain Member and Virus Membership
>
> I would like to know what is the best practice method to configure
> Windows Servers in the DMZ. Should they be a part of the domain and
> therefore open ports to allow authentication? Or should they be kept
> as standalone servers? I also have my virus scanners on these machines
> but they are not in contact with the Primary Virus Server should I
> allow these ports through the firewall? Currently they are standalone
> virus scanners. Please share with me your thoughts on these
> configurations.
> Thank you
>
> ./Adam
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---
EARN A MASTER OF SCIENCE IN INFORMATION ASSURANCE - ONLINE
The Norwich University program offers unparalleled Infosec management 
education and the case study affords you unmatched consulting
experience. 
Tailor your education to your own professional goals with degree 
customizations including Emergency Management, Business Continuity
Planning, 
Computer Emergency Response Teams, and Digital Investigations. 

http://www.msia.norwich.edu/secfocus
------------------------------------------------------------------------
---



---------------------------------------------------------------------------
EARN A MASTER OF SCIENCE IN INFORMATION ASSURANCE - ONLINE
The Norwich University program offers unparalleled Infosec management
education and the case study affords you unmatched consulting experience.
Tailor your education to your own professional goals with degree
customizations including Emergency Management, Business Continuity Planning,
Computer Emergency Response Teams, and Digital Investigations.

http://www.msia.norwich.edu/secfocus
---------------------------------------------------------------------------