Re: Securing networks

2003-08-30 Thread Piers Kittel
Hello Bret,

What threats are you trying to protect against?  That decides what you
need to take care of.
Not quite sure - hackers and the like?

My point is that, like in the Window$ world, simply saying put on a
firewall, and an anti-virus program and you're done.  And keep it up to
date doesn't really address the issue.
My thinking exactly.

I recommend you buy a book about securing GNU/Linux systems, and use
that to guide your understanding and choices.  Currently I'm using Real
World Linux Security.  I'm just getting started.
Is it possible for you to recommend a book?

SSH seems to be able to handle this.  I haven't seen anyone speak
against it, except for the possibility of performance issues if one
tries to cram too much over the pipe.  That would be a problem with just
a network connection anyway, so you'd have to design for that anyway.
Yeah I use SSH internally, but I'm not quite sure how SSH works
externally via NAT?  After all, I can't quite type ssh -l piers
192.168.0.1.
Thanks very much for your help :)

Cheers - Piers



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Re: Securing networks

2003-08-30 Thread Piers Kittel
Hello,

If you are really interested in getting security and having some 
functionality hosted yourself (mail/web) then I would strongly recommend 
you consider a DMZ for your hosting.

This can be done a number of ways.  But if you can spare an extra 
machine, this would be pretty good and save you about $1,000.  Install 
smoothwall or ip-cop on it and you will have a dedicated hardware 
firewall.  This is a great place to start.

Now you can leave all your windows boxes on a LAN and host a DMZ as well.
In fact, I'm using Smoothwall right now for the current network, but I 
couldn't find anything to do with DMZ on the router?  Although the ADSL 
router I have (not used atm, will be using it for the new network 
though) does have DMZ, used that without success in the past, although 
I'm a bit worried about putting my main PC in the DMZ all the time - I 
might want to log in my PC from work.  Or I could just forward one port 
that SSH uses?

Cheers for your help

Piers

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Re: Securing networks

2003-08-30 Thread Arnt Karlsen
On Sat, 30 Aug 2003 12:35:47 +0100, 
Piers Kittel [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote in message 
[EMAIL PROTECTED]:

 Hello,
 
  If you are really interested in getting security and having some 
  functionality hosted yourself (mail/web) then I would strongly
  recommend you consider a DMZ for your hosting.
  
  This can be done a number of ways.  But if you can spare an extra 
  machine, this would be pretty good and save you about $1,000. 
  Install smoothwall or ip-cop on it and you will have a dedicated
  hardware firewall.  This is a great place to start.
  
  Now you can leave all your windows boxes on a LAN and host a DMZ as
  well.
 
 In fact, I'm using Smoothwall right now for the current network, but I
 

..try ipcop, over at http://ipcop.org/ , also has a pretty 
good support list, so I cc. 

 couldn't find anything to do with DMZ on the router?  Although the
 ADSL router I have (not used atm, will be using it for the new network
 though) does have DMZ, used that without success in the past, although
 I'm a bit worried about putting my main PC in the DMZ all the time - I
 might want to log in my PC from work.  Or I could just forward one
 port that SSH uses?
 
 Cheers for your help
 
 Piers
 
 


-- 
..med vennlig hilsen = with Kind Regards from Arnt... ;-)
...with a number of polar bear hunters in his ancestry...
  Scenarios always come in sets of three: 
  best case, worst case, and just in case.


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Securing networks

2003-08-28 Thread Piers Kittel
Hello all

Am going to move house soon, and want to re-setup my network again, as I 
want to install debian on the network server which is currently RedHat 
(DHCP, DNS, proxy etc).  But I'm quite worried about security, and want 
to know the best ways to find out how to secure the network.  I've a 
hardware Linksys router/firewall with a WLAN access point built in.  As 
I know WEP is as secure as a biscuit, how should I setup and secure the 
WLAN network?  And how should I protect my wired network - also I'd like 
to be able to log in my main PC from outside, such as work or at 
friends house?

Thanks very much for your help in advance

Cheers - Piers

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Re: Securing networks

2003-08-28 Thread Bret Comstock Waldow
On Thu, 2003-08-28 at 10:37, Piers Kittel wrote:
  Hello all
 
 Am going to move house soon, and want to re-setup my network again, as I 
 want to install debian on the network server which is currently RedHat 
 (DHCP, DNS, proxy etc).  But I'm quite worried about security, and want 
 to know the best ways to find out how to secure the network.  I've a 
 hardware Linksys router/firewall with a WLAN access point built in.  As 
 I know WEP is as secure as a biscuit, how should I setup and secure the 
 WLAN network?

What threats are you trying to protect against?  That decides what you
need to take care of.

Given that we're discussing computers, many threats can be automated, so
only black bag scenarios are beyond possibility.  Or are they?

Recently here in Florida, a Doctors office was broken into, and what
they stole was records in boxes.  Patient names, social security
numbers, medical records.  18 boxes of them - they knew what they were
after.  And the computers.

The police suggest identify theft.

So how far do you want to go?  Do you know that your credit card number
can linger in the swap partition even though it was never saved to disk?

My point is that, like in the Window$ world, simply saying put on a
firewall, and an anti-virus program and you're done.  And keep it up to
date doesn't really address the issue.

I recommend you buy a book about securing GNU/Linux systems, and use
that to guide your understanding and choices.  Currently I'm using Real
World Linux Security.  I'm just getting started.

I'm relying on a gateway/router/NAT box in the meantime.  They do help,
if the features are turned on.  And I'm relying on having a /home
partition in it's own right and a good backup, so I can rebuild the
system securely once I've got a grip on how that should be set up.  (My
/home data doesn't include much that would affect security best I can
tell so far.  No GNU/Linux viruses in the email.  No root level
configuration files in .gtkrc, etc.)

But I can blow away my system, and reinstall it not connected to the
net, and have a chance to run an intrusion detection system on a clean
install to get a baseline.  And then update in small bites, so I can
monitor it.


   And how should I protect my wired network - also I'd like 
 to be able to log in my main PC from outside, such as work or at 
 friends house?

SSH seems to be able to handle this.  I haven't seen anyone speak
against it, except for the possibility of performance issues if one
tries to cram too much over the pipe.  That would be a problem with just
a network connection anyway, so you'd have to design for that anyway.

Cheers,
Bret

-- 
bwaldow at alum dot mit dot edu


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