Re: the importance of security

[Paul Russell <prussell () ND EDU>]

On 8/11/2004 10:42 AM, Scott Genung wrote:

> Below are the initiatives that we presented which received the highest
> degree of opposition.
>
> - SMTP authentication
> - perimeter STMP filters to block mail trojans
> - split DNS

We were able to justify both port 25 blocks and mandatory SMTP authentication
on the grounds that these restrictions prevent infected/compromised systems
in our network from spewing virus and spam messages to external addresses. We
have had incidents involving student-owned systems, as well as faculty and
staff workstations, thus proving that no segment of the population is immune
from these problems. There were technical questions about the implementation
of both measures, but the only serious objections were to the implementation
date originally proposed for mandatory SMTP authentication. Consequently,
implementation has been delayed to provide departmental technical support
staff with time to verify that all systems in their departments are
configured to use SMTP authentication.

--
Paul Russell
Senior Systems Administrator
OIT Messaging Services Team
University of Notre Dame

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