Skip to main content

#LearnedIT: IT Security Foundations - Protecting Our Server


Hi again, same course, different submenu.

Let's play a game -  Based Upon the Menu, How Much Do I Remember? I did take Sever 2008/12 during my time in college and found it one of the more fun aspects!

Hardening the Server -
Put it behind a correctly-configured firewall if it's facing the internet. Correctly configured means the proper rules are established regarding access (think 'allow tcp any any') , and ports on the server should be closed if they're not being used unless, again, it's properly configured. Use ACLs to allow one computer located in an area you know is safe and has limited web access to configure the server. 

Run auditing, and don't give any one person more permissions than they need. Principal of least privilege! 

Train your users.

Lisa Bock, our author,  doesn't get as deep as I do, but helpfully reminds us that the physical server should be in a secure, monitored environment to ward off intruders and also overly cool or hot (or humid) weather conditions.

So, how servers survive in Florida is beyond me.




Essential file services (Sharing, web, database) should be on different servers.
Applications shouldn't have direct access to a server, and should go through a proxy - and of course, clear it with us, your Network Administrator, before installing or using any applications.

All in all - I grade myself a fair. Could be better. But that's why we're here. Learning!


Next is Hardening - Updates and Patches -
If you can, test patches and updates in an test environment. See how long it might take, if it disables or modifies any important features for your server. Disable nonessential applications and services, have anti-virus, and don't randomly install freeware. Turn off automatic updates, especially if they come from Microsoft.

What does Lisa say now? Mostly what I said! Whoo! Including;


  • Conduct risk assessments.
  • Also, remember use long and complex passwords.
  • Check for Service Packs.


Third - Protocol Good Practices.
All I have is encrypt things.

Sure enough the first point is 'Use HTTPS'.


  • Secure Shell with Telnet or PutTTY, which I have used!
  • Utilize Network Time Protocol
  • Find a type of software that can encrypt FTP transfers. 

This is a URL you can use to access your file server (not secure)! The layout looks really different than in the 90's, I remember a bunch of hyperlinks in courier.

She tells us how the turn off Telnet capabilities, and it's at this point where I paused and went to my Windows 10 Machine to check, and happily, I had already turned it off.



Our final task? The Microsoft Baseline Security Analyzer -
It identifies security issues and makes sure all patches and updates are in place.


Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Connecting IoT Devices to a Registration Server (Packet Tracer, Cisco)

In Packet Tracer, a demo software made by Cisco Systems. It certainly has changed a lot since 2016. It's almost an Olympic feat to even get started with it now, but it does look snazzy. This is for the new CCNA, that integrates, among other things, IoT and Automation, which I've worked on here before. Instructions here . I don't know if this is an aspect of "Let's make sure people are paying attention and not simply following blindly", or an oversight - The instructions indicate a Meraki Server, when a regular one is the working option here. I have to enable the IoT service on this server. Also, we assign the server an IPv4 address from a DHCP pool instead of giving it a static one. For something that handles our IoT business, perhaps that's safer; Getting a new IPv4 address every week or so is a minimal step against an intruder, but it is a step. There are no devices associated with this new server; In an earlier lab (not shown), I attached them to 'H

Securing Terraform and You Part 1 -- rego, Tfsec, and Terrascan

9/20: The open source version of Terraform is now  OpenTofu     Sometimes, I write articles even when things don't work. It's about showing a learning process.  Using IaC means consistency, and one thing you don't want to do is have 5 open S3 buckets on AWS that anyone on the internet can reach.  That's where tools such as Terrascan and Tfsec come in, where we can make our own policies and rules to be checked against our code before we init.  As this was contract work, I can't show you the exact code used, but I can tell you that this blog post by Cesar Rodriguez of Cloud Security Musings was quite helpful, as well as this one by Chris Ayers . The issue is using Rego; I found a cool VS Code Extension; Terrascan Rego Editor , as well as several courses on Styra Academy; Policy Authoring and Policy Essentials . The big issue was figuring out how to tell Terrascan to follow a certain policy; I made it, put it in a directory, and ran the program while in that directory

Building, Breaking, and Building A CRM with Retool

 I like no- or low-code solutions to things. I've often wanted to simply push a button or move some GUI around and have the code implement itself.  I've thought about building something that's like a customer relationship management (CRM) system for keeping up with my network better than my little spreadsheet where I click links and then go like something. The general idea in this CRM Development is:  To have a GUI to add people to a NRM (Network Relationship Management).       Attach it to a database (MySQL is what I went with eventually using Amazon Relational Database service, but you can use PostGRES, and probably others).     Make sure components are connected to each other in the retool interface. This video is a good start. Watching the tutorial video, heard some SQL commands and went 'Oh no 😳" before going "Wait I know basic SQL", which is good, because you'll see.  When you get set up, there's a plethora of resources you can use -- Incl