Penetration Testing mailing list archives
Re: Bank Audit Best practices
From: "Jeff Lumley" <jlumley () forfend org>
Date: Thu, 18 Mar 2004 18:23:39 -0500
Dante - I happen to work at a financial institution, and generally speaking the processor has no problem working with security folks to firewall the connection. I am a tad surprised the admins are giving you grief about this though, usually it is sr. management that has a misconception about the security of a "trusted vendor" circuit dropped unprotected on the LAN. Those guys should have better sense then that!
From my experience actually changing over a Credit Union from a non existent
security model to having all external connections filtered & firewalled, the politics are 10X harder than actually working with the Visa's and other processors of the world to get the addressing changed and NAT'ed around. That said, you are 100% correct in your recommendations to these institutions to segregate these lines from the LAN. My best tip for you is to use the liability card! Once they realize the potential liability for ignoring security from a legal perspective (can you say negligence?) and a customer impact perspective (it is not cheap to re-issue 100,000 cards when the numbers get comprimised) approval to change things comes rapidly. My 2c! Jeff Lumley Network Analyst ----- Original Message ----- From: "Dante Mercurio" <Dante () webcti com> To: <pen-test () securityfocus com> Sent: Wednesday, March 17, 2004 9:06 AM Subject: Bank Audit Best practices I'm looking for some feedback from other people who conduct security audits and penetration tests on banks. One of the network aspects I come across a lot is a direct line to their transaction processor. This is often in the form of a point-to-point or frame line that is dropped onsite with a router controlled by the processor, not the bank. I always point out that this is a network security risk, as there is no control from the bank side regarding the access provided through that line, and recommend an ACL or departmental firewall at that point. As always, the administrators look at me like I recommended them selling their firstborn. The relationship between the bank and their processor is very symbiotic as the bank couldn't even exist without their services, yet my perspective is any outside system should go through some level of border security in order to monitor and restrict traffic. Anyone run into this? How do you handle? M. Dante Mercurio dante () webcti com Consulting Group Manager Continental Technologies, Inc www.webcti.com --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Ethical Hacking at the InfoSec Institute. Mention this ad and get $545 off any course! All of our class sizes are guaranteed to be 10 students or less to facilitate one-on-one interaction with one of our expert instructors. Attend a course taught by an expert instructor with years of in-the-field pen testing experience in our state of the art hacking lab. Master the skills of an Ethical Hacker to better assess the security of your organization. Visit us at: http://www.infosecinstitute.com/courses/ethical_hacking_training.html ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Ethical Hacking at the InfoSec Institute. Mention this ad and get $545 off any course! All of our class sizes are guaranteed to be 10 students or less to facilitate one-on-one interaction with one of our expert instructors. Attend a course taught by an expert instructor with years of in-the-field pen testing experience in our state of the art hacking lab. Master the skills of an Ethical Hacker to better assess the security of your organization. Visit us at: http://www.infosecinstitute.com/courses/ethical_hacking_training.html ----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Current thread:
- Bank Audit Best practices Dante Mercurio (Mar 18)
- RE: Bank Audit Best practices Chuck Fullerton (Mar 19)
- RE: Bank Audit Best practices Pete Herzog (Mar 19)
- Re: Bank Audit Best practices Clint Bodungen (Mar 19)
- Re: Bank Audit Best practices Jeff Lumley (Mar 19)
- Re: [security] Bank Audit Best practices rsh (Mar 19)
- Re: Bank Audit Best practices wirepair (Mar 19)
- <Possible follow-ups>
- RE: Bank Audit Best practices Michael Bitow (Mar 19)
- Re: Bank Audit Best practices Mike Shaw (Mar 19)
- RE: Bank Audit Best practices Michael Iseyemi (Mar 19)
- RE: Bank Audit Best practices Keith Pachulski (Mar 22)
- RE: Bank Audit Best practices Mike Shaw (Mar 22)
- RE: Bank Audit Best practices Gault, Brian (Mar 23)
- RE: Bank Audit Best practices Mike Shaw (Mar 23)
- RE: Bank Audit Best practices Frank Knobbe (Mar 24)
(Thread continues...)