Secure the Network Devices for a Large Firm, Essay Example

To effectively secure the network devices for a large firm, it is first necessary to conduct a threat assessment. Larger companies tend to have large quantities of sensitive data and a requirement of this work is therefore to ensure the confidentiality, availability, and integrity of their data. To do so, I will begin by reviewing historical data that pertains to past incidents that have occurred within the organization, in similar organizations, and in the local area in which the business is housed. This data will be obtained primarily by conducting interviews and searching internet records. After all relevant information is collected, I will determine the reasons that these attacks have occurred and determine whether this particular company is at risk for these same reasons.

Based on the determined threat history, threat modeling will specifically identify security risks. The threat history assessment will be used primarily to provide the model with variables for effective analysis. This will be followed by a vulnerability assessment that includes the use of fingerprinting and scanning to determine which points of the network have a weakness that needs to be resolved. This phase of the assessment requires a thorough documentation review, citing the incidents, outage reports, and assessment reports that have been issued in the past. It is also useful to determine the vulnerabilities that the network has due to the likelihood of the employees to share their login information with unauthorized users.

To ensure that human error is not responsible for compromising network security, all employees should be required to utilize complex passwords that are changed frequently. Furthermore, reminder emails should be sent out to them that they should not share their username and password with individuals through email or phone, and be informed of how to change their password if they believe their accounts have been compromised. Next it is necessary to ensure that malware programs that are capable of obtaining this information is removed from company computers. Therefore, software should be regularly run to delete these programs.

In addition, the vulnerabilities that the network has can easily be identified using scanning and fingerprinting, but it is difficult to alleviate them without being aware of the specifics. However, in a majority of situations, a gap analysis report can be used to determine which exploits have been mitigated and which exploits are not mitigated (Gibson, 2011). A remediation plan can be implemented to resolve what is necessary to close this gap. Configuration management and change management can both be used to prevent future exploitations. Consistently updating these configurations and ensuring that changes are approved are simple ways to ensure that the network is protected and continues working properly.

After exploits have been mitigated, it is essential to determine whether these resolutions continue to be effective. It is important to repeat testing initially to ensure that is the case. Furthermore, the systems should be tested and reviewed periodically to determine if there are any new threats. Often, this involves simply repeating the network security analysis that had been conducted in the past to determine whether additional vulnerabilities are present. This process should be repeated frequently to ensure that sensitive information is maximally protected.

References

Gibson D. (2011). Managing Risk In Information Systems, Chapter 7. Jones & Bartlett Learning.

Gibson D. (2011). Managing Risk In Information Systems, Chapter 8. Jones & Bartlett Learning.