Re: Basic Windows Security Question

From: Zaven (zaven_at_sonic.net)
Date: 03/31/05

  • Next message: adisegna_at_siscocorp.com: "RE: Basic Windows Security Question"
    Date: Wed, 30 Mar 2005 19:51:08 -0800
    To: security-basics@securityfocus.com
    
    

    If you disable the USB port, people will find another way to sneak data in.

    In fact, no matter what you do someone may guess/bribe/steal/coerce a
    password to your systems. Maybe the best safeguard is a good detection
    and response plan, so you know when the inevitable does happen and can
    act intelligently to minimize the damage.

    ^Z

    Andrew McIntosh wrote:
    > Hello Everybody,
    >
    > I am curious to see the different suggestions for this scenario:
    >
    > Suppose you have a small company of less than 100 employees. One of the
    > employees likes to bring his work home on occasion. He does so using a
    > USB thumb drive. One day he catches a [virus, worm, Trojan, spyware,
    > anything you can think of] at home and it winds up on his thumb drive,
    > which he in turn brings to the company network.
    >
    > The company certainly should have anti-virus software in place, which
    > would fix that problem. But what if he unknowingly loads a key logging
    > program that could capture private customer information? What do you
    > suggest? Here is what I could think of so far:
    >
    > Disable USB Port - That would solve the particular problem and create
    > other problems. For instance, substitute the thumb drive with a floppy
    > disk or CD. For obvious reasons you don't want to disable those as well.
    >
    > Restrict user permissions - That could potentially prevent a program
    > from installing itself, but it would also cause the user some grief if
    > they need to install programs themselves, or even do simple things like
    > changing personal settings.
    >
    > Security Policy - Haven't looked into this yet, but maybe there is a way
    > to prevent the use of thumb drives and other specific devices through
    > security policy.
    >
    > What do you think?
    >
    > Thanks!
    >
    > ====================
    > amcintosh@ntad.com
    > ====================
    >
    >
    >

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