Devry University Week 6 Case Study

In most areas of life, prevention is better than cure, and security is no exception. Wherever possible, you will want to prevent security incidents from happening in the first place. However, it is impossible to prevent all security incidents. When a security incident does happen, you will need to ensure that its impact is minimized. To minimize the number and impact of security incidents, you should clearly establish and enforce all policies and procedures. Many security incidents are accidentally created by IT personnel who have not followed or not understood change management procedures or have improperly configured security devices, such as firewalls and authentication systems. Your policies and procedures should be thoroughly tested to ensure that they are practical and clear and provide the appropriate level of security.

Gain management support for security policies and incident handling and routinely assess vulnerabilities in your environment. Assessments should be done by a security specialist with the appropriate clearance to perform these actions. Routinely check all computer systems and network devices to ensure that they have all of the latest patches installed and establish security training programs for both IT staff and end users (West, 2003). Post security banners that remind users of their responsibilities and restrictions, along with a warning of potential prosecution for violation. These banners make it easier to collect evidence and prosecute attackers. You should obtain legal advice to ensure that the wording of your security banners is appropriate (West, 2003).

Develop, implement, and enforce a policy requiring strong passwords, as well as routinely monitor and analyze network traffic and system performance (West, 2003). Routinely check all logs and logging mechanisms, including operating system event logs, application specific logs and intrusion detection system logs and verify your back-up and restore procedures. You should be aware of...