Corporate Security and IT Policies

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Revision as of 00:41, 13 April 2009

Corporations need to protect their physical and soft assets in today’s world of thieves and hackers. To do so, they implement IT and Security Policies, which protect their corporations against such attacks. These prevention mechanisms can be split up into three main categories: physical, software, and social (employees).

Physical Security

Typical security camera used for recording physical perimeter of building[X]

Miniature mirrors are sometimes used on monitors to allow workers using a screen to see what’s behind them. The main purpose of these mirrors is to allow the user to view unwanted eyes from behind viewing confident information on the subject screen.

Security Cards are a common security feature, typically used on all entrances to secured buildings. Usually a public lobby-area with a receptionist is open for visitors, however, access to the remaining parts of the building are secured with a security system which requires authorized employees to swipe security passes to gain access.

Other self-explanatory physical security features include:

• Locks
• Cabinet Locks
• Badge Access
• Security Cameras
• Shredders
• Mirrors on monitors

Shredding machines are also frequently located in offices to prevent dumpster diving. Sometimes, a service is used from a company that performs shredding services for a fee.

Software Security

Software security refers to the protection of digital media; it includes hardware necessary to implement software security, such as a computer running the corporate firewall.

A user password policy change window shown in Windows XP[X]

From a software perspective, corporations protect local data with encryption and backup, intruders from outside the organization with firewalls, as well as internal threats

Social Employee Security

Although smaller companies sometimes omit discussion social engineering within their security practices, it is strikingly one of the most important areas to cover. Essentially, this type of security mechanism aims to prevent social engineering.

Companies typically have a statement in their security policy manual such as [X]:

    Don't reveal a password to the boss  
    Don't talk about a password in front of others  
    Don't hint at the format of a password (e.g., "my family name")
    Don't reveal a password over the phone to ANYONE
    Don't reveal a password to co-workers while on vacation 
     
    If someone demands a password, refer them to this document or have them call someone in the Information Security Department.  

IT Administrators typically do not have direct access to view account passwords. Instead, passwords are typically encrypted, and should a user forget his or her password, the administrator must reset the password, rather than being able to view the user’s former password and give it out.

People Security – IT Desk taught against social networking, never give out passwords over phone, only email (which is secured with password)

Other Security measures

People Security – IT Desk taught against social networking, never give out passwords over phone, only email (which is secured with password)

Password Standard (#characters, variety of characters, password chaged every 2 months) Secure communications (128 triple A or something, blackberry encrypted)

References

Some companies have statements of security as shown here: http://www.total.com/static/en/medias/topic1608/pol-sur-001_security_policy12.pdf

picture: http://www.rsscctv.com/images/P/200x200_tkc215_300%2520WEB.jpg

password change policy: http://support.netmail.sg/images/changepwd_owa2.gif

password Policy: http://www.sans.org/resources/policies/Password_Policy.pdf

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Physical_Security

password change pic: http://www2.cit.cornell.edu/services/systems_support/images/changepassword2.jpg

See Also

Network firewall

Email Security

Fingerprint Authentication

Social Engineering

External Links

Wikipedia: Corporate Security

Sample Password Policies