Part I
The following outline presents the fundamental solutions for the safety of data and information that belongs to Richman Investments. As part of the general security plan of the organization the IT department puts together a proposal to provide multi-layered security strategies that can be applied at every level of the IT structure. The plan will lay out the importance of improving and safeguarding the levels of each domain and the process of protecting the information of the organization.

User Domain
At Richman Investments the personnel is accountable for the appropriate use of IT assets. Therefore, it is in the best interest of the organization to ensure employees handle security procedures with integrity. It is essential to create a strong AUP (Acceptable Use Policy) procedure and as part of the process, require employees sign an agreement to guarantee they understand and conform to implemented rules and regulations. In addition, the company will conduct security awareness training, annual security exercises, notices about securing information, and constant reminders security is everyone’s responsibility.

Workstation Domain
The plan to secure the workstation domain enforces a strong password policy on each workstation and also enables screen lockout protection for inactive times. Keeping all workstations with an up to date antivirus is essential. Furthermore, content filtering features will arrange access of specific domain names according to AUP definitions. In addition, workstations will have up-to-date application software and security patches conferring to company guide lines. As part of the workstation security strategy IT will disable the auto-play feature and will enable automatic scan for any external devices that may be connected to the machine. This measure will ensure the content is secure.

LAN Domain A priority to the LAN domain is proper security of physical equipment. Only authorized personnel are allowed to gain access into the servers’ room. In addition, these personnel must sign in and out on a log book to keep record and control of who access the room. The wireless access point will use WPA2 enterprise security encryption and disable the broadcast SSID to make sure only authorized personnel is able to access the network wireless.

LAN-to-WAN Domain Another important security measure applies to the LAN-to-WAN domain. It is imperative to apply strict security controls to monitor the inbound-outbound traffic and prevent any malicious or irregular admission. The plan will require a periodic series of post configuration penetration tests of the layered security solution within the LAN-to-WAN domain. As part of the security strategy of LAN-to-WAN domain an antivirus will scan all attachments to identify any tread.

WAN Domain The use of the VPN (Virtual Private Network) channels will safeguard communication using an encrypted configuration. The use of internet for private communication without encryption will be prohibited.

Remote Access Domain For remote and mobile users, the security strategy will entail the encryption of the hard drive. In addition, periodic security passwords changes will be established. Also, automatic block for attempting multiple logs will be applied.

System Application Domain As part of the multi-layered security plan, it is necessary to develop a disaster recovery plan that specifies the recovery of critical information and data. Periodic backups will be schedule as well as the conversion of records to digital data for long term storage.

Part II

The purpose of this document is to describe a security plan throughout the company and a method to secure the network and communications of Richman Investments. It has come to my attention that the company security policy is outdated and differs between branches. Due to the large increase of employees it is vital to update the security policy.

This proposal is centered on the use of a Virtual Private Network (VPN). It offers secure communications between sites over the internet. Besides being an inexpensive way of securing data traffic, it also facilitates users to connect safely from a remote location to the company’s network. This aspect of VPN increases productivity and ensures efficiency. It is recommended to use the VPN technology secure sockets layer (SSL) protocol. The benefit of this protocol is the level of verification which provides encrypted communication sections between the authentication server and the client. To obtain a secure access it is necessary to install an authentication certificate and software that will act as a connection gate between the client’s computer and the server. The SSL protocol verification process consists of two phases; first the server sends a response to the clients’ requests with a public certificate. Second, the clients respond with the master key to which the server will reply asking for username and password and then grant access.