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In this new, interconnected world, we are surrounded by security threats. Our network, our ever
increasing complex computers and serves, our PDAs and even our cell phones are all vulnerable
to hackers, crackers and virus writers. This page is presenting some old (and not so old) ideas
and guidelines in hoping that you can benefit in it for securing your own network, computer.
Table of Content
1. WANs. When the network is small (such as a LAN), it is much easier to manage the
network since the location is confined to a single physical location. With the advent of
WANs, and much recently VLANs, the network has spawned across the globe connecting
many machines in many physical locations, running disparate network operating systems
with different classes of hardware.
2. Remote Access. The modems pool that you just installed to allow your users to dial into
your cooperate network has just become a very useful tool for hackers to get in.
Moreover, the hacker can do it leisurely from his comfort home (or from the public
phone). In fact, RAS (remote Access Service) is one of the most favorite pass time
activities for hackers.
3. Mobile Computing. The only good thing about laptop is that it allows user computes
wherever he is. Anything else is bad!
4. The Web and TCP/IP. The internet, in adopting TCP/IP as its protocol, has opened a
can of worms for security breaches. It is possible for hackers to examine packets of
information as they move across the internet as long as he knows the route. More over,
TCP/IP is in itself insecure. The most breaking news was that the ISN (initial sequence
number), part of TCP/IP spec, can be guessed. Until the adoption of IPv6 (version 6) is
wide-spreaded, it is imperative that you understand what risks you are taking when
implement TCP/IP and Internet access.
2. Type of Security Breaches?
Denial of Service (DoS) nuisances. A DoS attack does not directly damage your system or
change/steal information from it. Rather, it disrupts the normal operation of your organization.
Web servers are typical targets of DoS attack. More recently, as web server operators tighten the
security, hackers have turned their attention to the router as a more attractive target. If you are
responsible for web operation, remember that there are more than just the web servers that need
to be secured.
Illegal Access. Hmm, let's see what the CEO salary is, and how much stock option did he get?
Obviously, great control must be exercising here. This kind of intrusion if generally comes from
the inside where the intruder has some type of network access in the beginning. Running an e-
commerce web-site? Make sure that the right people get to the right database(s) and nothing
else. You don't want to have millions of customers suing you for credit card fraud, do you?
The Imposter. Yup, you just bought a billion dollar worth of TVs and VCRs to be send to
someplace in Siberia. When you are sending an order to buy that new laptop for yourself, you
are sending your bank account / credit card number and other relevant information to Mr. HackIt.
Data Destruction and Corruption. What would happen when people browse to your website
and immediately greeted by profanity with some porno pictures to enhanced the message?
Hmmm...Let exercise the "Delete" key here. Wait...How about just corrupt the entire hard disk. It
sure sounds fun (not to you, the hacker that is). Computer viruses are typical responsible of this
kind of destruction.
The most important thing to realize about Windows 98 is that it was not designed to be a secure
operating system. Fortunately it was also not designed to be a true multiuser operating system,
so it has extremely limited remote administration features.
There are only two ways for attackers to gain complete control over a Win 98 system: either trick
the system's operator into executing code of their choice, or gain physical access to the system's
console.
Win 98's architecture makes it nearly impossible to attack from a remote location unless the
system owner makes key errors, some misconfiguration or poor judgment. There are three
mechanisms Win 98 provides for direct access to the system: file and print sharing, optional dial-
up server, and remote Registry manipulation.
Countermeasures against remote hacking
Fixing this problem is easy -- turn off file and print sharing. You can use the System Policy Editor
(POLEDIT.EXE) utility to disable file and print sharing across all systems. POLEDIT.EXE can be
found in the \tools\ reskit\ netadmin\directory on most Win 98 CD-ROMS, or at
http:// support.microsft.com/support/kb/articles/Q135/3/15.asp.
If you must enable file sharing, use a complex password of eight alphanumeric characters ( that is
the maximum allowed by Win 98) and include metacharacters( such as [!@#$%&). Its also wise
to append a $ symbol, to the name of the share to prevent it from appearing in the Network
Neighborhood, in the output of net view commands, and even in the results of a Legion scan.
Win 98 Dial-Up hacking countermeasures
Not surprisingly the same defenses hold true: don't use the Win 98 Dial-Up Server, and enforce
this across multiple systems with the System Policy Editor. If Dial-Up capability is absolutely
necessary, set a password for Dial-In access, require that it be encrypted using the Server Type
dialog box in the Dial-Up Server Properties, or authenticate using user-level security (that is, pass
through authentication to a security provider such as a Windows NT domain controller or Netware
server). Set further passwords on any shares (using good password complexity rules), and hide
them by appending the $ symbol to the share name.
Intruders who successfully crack a Dial-Up Server and associated share passwords are free to
pillage whatever they can find. However, they will be unable to progress further into the network
because Win 98 cannot route network traffic.