The Cert Guide To System And Network Security Practices

As the Internet and other information infrastructures have become larger, more complex, and more interdependent, unauthorized intrusion into computer systems and networks have become more frequent and more severe. It is increasingly critical that an organization secures the systems it connects to public networks. The CERT Coordination Center, the first computer security response group, key security practices, implementations, and tech tips on a timely basis. The CERT Guide to System and Network Security Practices makes these implementations and practices available for the first time in book form. With a practical, stepwise approach, the book shows administrators how to protect systems and networks against malicious and inadvertent compromise. If you are installing, configuring, operating, or maintaining systems or networks - or managing any of those functions - you will find here easy-to-implement guidance for protecting your information infrastructure. The practices are platform- and operating-system independent; however, several procedural and tool-based implementations are provided to illustrate the technology-specific guidance that is freely available from the CERT Web site (www.cert.org) The book is divided into two main parts, the first dealing with hardening and securing your system - preventing problems in the first place. The second part covers intrusion detection and response, recognizing that even the most secure networks are based on CERT/CC's extensive data on security breaches and vulnerability, providing an authoritative view of the most common problems system and network administrators confront. See how to: Secure general-purpose network servers and user workstations; Configure public Web servers to operate securely including the use of authentication and encryption technologies; Configure, test, and deploy firewall systems; Detect, respond to, and recover from intrusions; Implement selected practices on systems running a Solaris 2.x operating system; Identify practice-related topics to address in your security policies. By implementing the security practices described in this book, you will be incorporating protection mechanism for up to 80 percent of the security incidents reported to CERT/CC.