<a href="http://egroup.jasonmangone.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/freeimage-9047258.jpg"><img class="size-medium wp-image-7832 alignleft" alt="Network equipment" src="http://egroup.jasonmangone.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/freeimage-9047258-284x300.jpg" width="284" height="300" /></a>

Interesting article on OPEN Forum on how to <a href="http://www.openforum.com/articles/5-ways-to-avoid-a-network-breach/" target="_blank">avoid a network breach</a>.

The writer, <a href="http://www.openforum.com/keywords/carla-turchetti-1/" target="_blank">Carla Turchetti</a>, outlined five ways to protect a business and the bottom line frm cyber-security challenges in the year ahead. Through her sources, she boiled it down to: user safety, password strength, proper systems and control, monitoring and general vigilance.

I spoke with eGroup's in house security expert, Adam Turner, who offered some additional advice of the technical variety for businesses hoping to prevent a security breach:
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><em>As for the how-to, one item I always stress is that information security, be it implementation, review, etc., is not a milestone. It is an ongoing process. Also, information security is everyone’s responsibility, from the front desk personnel to the head of the IT department.  Security awareness training is often overlooked, but it can be a big help to a company’s data integrity. The weakest link in the chain is often the analogy, and end-users are usually that weak link.</em></p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><em>Down to the 1’s and 0’s. I’d like to briefly cover SQL Injection (SQLi), browser and browser add-on vulnerabilities, AutoRun, and insider threats.</em></p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><em>One of the most popular exploits these days is SQL Injection (SQLi). This is typically a targeted attack, i.e. the attacker has identified an information system in particular and wants access. SQLi takes advantage of poorly written application code, specifically the part of the application code that is inserting or retrieving information from a database. Encrypting your database cells is the best method of protection, but input validation and sanitization is the simpler route. For instance, a Date field in a website form should not allow characters that do not belong in a date, only numbers and the / character.</em></p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><em>Another popular exploitation vector is the web browser and web browser add-ons. These exploitations usually occur by getting a user to visit a malicious website that takes advantage of a browser or browser add-on software vulnerability. Examples of exploitable browser and browser add-ons are the Internet Explorer browser, Apple’s Safari browser, Java, Adobe Flash, and Adobe Reader. These products or a combination of them are typically used by every user in the world with Internet access. This makes them very attractive to attackers. The best way to prevent these products from exploitation is to limit the external websites corporate users can visit, however this often is not acceptable to the user base. In that case, creating a white list of websites that are allowed to use client-side add-ons is the best alternative. In Internet Explorer, this is implemented by assigning business related external websites to the Trusted zone via the Site to Zone Assignment list, and locking down the Internet Zone. I would also suggest using the Google Chrome browser where possible, as it is the most secure web browser available.</em></p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><em>AutoRun is a feature in Windows that performs automatic execution to provide convenience to the user. When you insert a software installation CD into your computer and the software’s install routine automatically launches, the AutoRun feature is what makes it happen. Using this feature, malware can spread from environment to environment silently via thumb drives and other portable media.  The malware in turn can delete data or introduce a point of access for the attacker. AutoRun should be disabled by Group Policy at the Computer and User levels.</em></p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><em>Last but certainly not least is insider threats. This usually involves disgruntled employees and terminated employees. I recently spoke to a company that was certain their voice mail server was being attacked by someone in China, until I found out their voice mail server administrator had recently been terminated. Though they had deleted his user account, it was apparent that he still had access into their system most likely through a shared user account. Employee exit policies should always involve disabling or deletion of their user accounts as well as password resets on any shared user accounts they may have had access to. However the practice of shared user accounts in generally very bad as it presents risk issues as well as audit/event investigation issues.</em></p>