Talk to a security vendor and they’ll try to sell you the moon to secure your network, data, email, and everything else. But what are you already doing to strengthen your security posture without breaking your budget? I believe that it’s always best to try the free tools and resources first. Not only will it give you experience and insight into what is out there, but you may also find one of the many great solutions out there. This four part series of articles will go over what you can do with free or budget friendly items to get as far as you can on a mission to a better security posture. First we’ll focus on reasons why and some good places to find information as well as good starting points for finding best practice guides, next network security, then on application security, and finally on windows security.
“Many attacks on Internet and network systems have no particular target. The attacker simply sends a large broadcast that uses any unprotected system as a staging point from which to launch an attack. Using computers without basic protections like firewalls, anti- virus software, and user education not only affects your own business, but many other businesses as the virus is spread around the Internet.
Your system’s lack of protection makes you a target: it can destroy your computer, your network, and can contribute to a virus distribution that slows or halts portions of the Internet. All of us who use the Internet have a responsibility to help create a culture of security that will enhance consumer and business confidence. But most importantly, failing to heed best practice advice could hurt your company significantly” - Internet Security Alliance Guide1
The ISA is a great resource for articles and publications on information security best practices. Attackers will always be attempting to get in.
Whether it’s a targeted attack, or your network just falls in the mix with a larger list around the world. Best practices across your infrastructure go a long way in preventing the broad automated attacks. Here are a couple daily reads good for any size business:
1. http://isc.sans.edu - The Internet Storm Center was created in 2001 following the successful detection, analysis, and widespread warning of the Li0n worm. Today, the ISC provides a free analysis and warning service to thousands of Internet users and organizations, and is actively working with Internet Service Providers to fight back against the most malicious attackers.2
2. http://dashboard.csoonline.com - This dashboard combines some of the more important feeds from around the internet combined all into one easy to read format. It includes some industry specific feeds as well as provides a good quick overview on daily security happenings.
1. http://bit.ly/UbyO2q
2. https://isc.sans.edu/about.html
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