CompTIA Security_ Deluxe Study Guide_ SY0-201 - Emmett Dulaney [241]
Scenario 1 You’ve been assigned the task of giving a one-hour briefing on the topic of security to management during their weekly luncheon (no other subtopics or specifics were given). Most of those in attendance will be upper management who know little about computers and tend to focus on financial sheets. What topics will you discuss and at what depth?
Scenario 2 You’ve been told to meet with the developers of a new application that will soon be rolled out to all branch offices. The application will hold all human resource records as well as a small amount of patient information. Your boss tells you that after the meeting, you’re to sign off on the application as being okay to deploy. What type of security questions will you focus on?
Scenario 3 The annual company meeting is next month. Representatives, including those in IT, from all remote offices will arrive at headquarters for a three-day visit. You’ve been asked to speak about the importance of strong passwords throughout the organization. What will you say, and how will you make your one-hour presentation stay with them after they return to their offices?
It’s important to give the right message to the right people. When giving any presentation, you should always tailor it for the audience and be able to make your discussion relevant to them.
A recommendation for scenario 1 would be to keep the talk at the overview level and focus only on the basics of security: why it’s needed, how valuable data is, how to use good passwords, and so on.
For scenario 2, you should push to test the application in a test environment first (nonproduction). You want to make certain that no back doors have been left in by the developers and that no negative interactions will occur between the new application and what is already running on your systems.
In scenario 3, you must bear in mind that you’re talking to an IT audience: The level of the presentation should be appropriate for them. To make the presentation stay with them, make it relevant. Talk about why this subject is important and how it affects their job.
Staying on Top of Security
The landscape of security is changing at a fast pace. You, as a security professional, are primarily responsible for keeping current on the threats and changes that are occurring, as well as staying on top of new developments in the field. At times, it can seem as if new buzzwords and acronyms (such as SPIM for Spam over Instant Messaging) are added daily. You’re also responsible for ensuring that systems are kept current and up-to-date. The following list briefly summarizes the areas you must be concerned about:
Operating systems updates Make sure all scheduled maintenance, updates, and service packs are installed on all the systems in your environment. Many manufacturers are releasing security updates on their products to deal with newly discovered vulnerabilities. For example, Novell, Microsoft, and Linux manufacturers offer updates on their websites. In some cases, you can have the operating system automatically notify you when an update becomes available; this notification helps busy administrators remember to keep their systems current.
As a security administrator, you understand the importance of applying all patches and updates to keep systems current and to close found weaknesses.
Most vendors offer sites specifically devoted to security. For example, Red Hat has http://www.redhat.com/security, Ubuntu has https://help.ubuntu.com/community/Security, Microsoft has http://www.microsoft.com/security, and so on.
Application updates Make sure all applications are kept to the most current levels. Older software might contain vulnerabilities that weren’t detected until after the software was released. New software may have recently discovered vulnerabilities as well as yet-to-be-discovered ones. Apply updates to your application software