As per a recent statistic, about a million mobile handsets are getting lost every year. While mobile phones carry valuable data such as business contacts, emails, documents, pictures, videos, etc. and senior management executives are increasingly using their smart phones compared to laptops, securing mobile phones is not given top priority in the IT security agenda of many business organizations. It is highly recommended that every organization includes a ‘Mobile Phone Security Policy’ in their IT Security Policy and Procedures. The policy may include a security checklist similar to the one given below. Continue reading “Checklist to secure data in mobile phones”
Securing Endpoints
Endpoint security has been gaining ground in the IT Security world in the last couple of years, though they have been around for more than a decade and a half. The first product from the Endpoint Security stable was the anti-virus software. Now endpoint security includes personal firewall, host IDS, anti-spyware, client anti-spam, client remote access etc apart from many other tools. This article delves more into the concept of endpoint security.
OSI (Open Systems Interconnection) Layer – Functionality, Tools and Protocols
OSI Layer Model developed by ISO, which is a 7 layer networking model, defines how networks should be designed and how devices on a network talk to each other. Each layer in the OSI model works directly with the layer above or below it and has a set function for moving communication across a network. The following table gives a quick overview of each layer and devices / tools / protocols used by each layer for communication.
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7 Basic Steps to Secure Your Wireless Router
Wireless network has become one of the weakest security links in IT infrastructure in recent times. Many security incidents have been linked to weak configuration of the Wi-Fi router at home / office. This article gives a checklist of 7 basic steps to secure your Wi-Fi router. Continue reading “7 Basic Steps to Secure Your Wireless Router”
How secure is your password?
Information Security experts recommend that password length should be minimum 8 characters and should have a mix of alphabets (lower and upper case), numerals and special characters. What happens if a user has a password of a lower strength? In this article, you can check how strong your password is. Continue reading “How secure is your password?”
10 Steps To Secure Remote Access Software
Remote access software has many useful areas of application like internal IT support, vendor support for software / hardware, accessing office computer from home pc, webinars, etc. However, remote access usage comes with a plethora of security concerns. In this article, I am enlisting some of the basic security measures to be taken by users of remote access software to protect their information assets. Continue reading “10 Steps To Secure Remote Access Software”
Backup Types and Backup Rotation Strategy
On the basis of data coverage, backups are of 3 types viz., full backup, differential backup and incremental backup. The following table gives a brief description of each backup type and also compares the backups in terms of backing up speed, restoration speed and storage space required.
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Basics of a proxy server and means to secure it
A proxy server is a server that acts as a gateway between a client computer and a larger network like the internet. This can be better understood through an illustration of daily life usage of proxy server. We are familiar with configuring proxy settings in the ‘Network Settings’ tab of our web browsers. We use a proxy in this case. A proxy server receives a web page request from the local internal user. The proxy server then acts as a client on behalf of the user, uses its own IP address to request the page from the server out on the internet. When the page is returned by the internet server, the proxy server relates it to the original request and forwards it on to the local internal user. Continue reading “Basics of a proxy server and means to secure it”
Is full system virus scan required when real time virus scan is enabled?
“I have a real time virus scan enabled. A full system virus scan consumes lot of my computer resources and time. So why should I run a full system virus scan regularly?”. This is a query which we come across frequently. This article tries to bring more clarity about full system virus scan and a real time virus scan. Continue reading “Is full system virus scan required when real time virus scan is enabled?”
Audit of OS Security
The audit of OS Security involves different phases from logging into the system and seeing the values on the system to running a few commands / tools to find these values. In this blog article, we will be looking at how to go about an audit of OS Security. Continue reading “Audit of OS Security”