Assignment 1: Identifying Potential Malicious Attacks, Threats, and Vulnerabilities
Shauna
Video games have been around for many years. As technology progresses unfortunately so does the security risks that come with online gaming. “The number of American households which play video games is a roughly 65%.” (Source 2) With any network organization you want to make sure that you keep on top of vulnerabilities of anything that reaches out to the internet. Computers and servers that touch the internet are ones that must be scanned. As a company you have to make sure that you configure the security settings for the operating system, internet browser and security software. As a company you also want to set personal security policies for online behavior. There also needs to be an antivirus installed on the network like Norton or Symantec which blocks threats targeting the vulnerabilities. “With the firewalls you want to configure them in the reputable internet security program to block unsolicited request communication.” (Source 1) Email server needs to be sure that spam doesn’t get through the network. The ways that spam works is unwanted email messages get solicited to a large number of recipients. “Spam should be a major concern in your infrastructure since it can be used to deliver email which can include Trojan horses, viruses, worms’ spyware and targeted attacks aimed specifically in obtaining sensitive and personal identification information.” (Source 1) Microsoft Outlook has some known security risks. However, “most of the security configurations would be set on the Exchange server and passed down to all clients.” (Source 2) With the organization running Windows 2008 domain controllers with an integrated Active Directory and an Exchange server for email functions, “there are risks associated specifically to those types of operating systems.” (Source 2) If you do not keep on top of the systems and do the necessary patches regularly there could potential security risks. (Be sure that you are not just installing any patches because implementing an untested patch could potentially bring down the servers.) You must also “configure security settings for your operating system, internet browser and security software.” (Source 3) “The other thing to think about with Microsoft servers is that known viruses and malware is designed and created to specifically target Microsoft systems.” (Source 2) Flaws like these that “these mistakes include weak/default passwords, ports left open, permissions left undefined, an unprotected directory that anyone with a bit of knowledge can access and rewrite, and more.” (Source 3)
To protect the infrastructure you can install spam filtering or blocking software otherwise keep your employees up to date on how to handle spam –like if an email comes in and does not have your email address in the TO or CC fields mark it as spam and do not open that email.
As with all video gaming companies there are a variety of different networking devices which is usually Cisco or other networking manufacturers. “Most companies are usually comprised of a fully functional TCP/IP network, where larger companies would be comprised of a WAN network.” (Source 2)
The need to have a network intrusion system is both evident and very important for an integrated infrastructure. With this type of system in place it would help to “detect and prevent lost information including names, addresses, email addresses, gender, birthdates, phone numbers and login information.” (Source 2)
Programming languages such as C++, Java and C# to name a few, have their own security risks within the enterprise that can create risks whenever they are used. “A common place for .Net is throughout the various websites that video game company’s use.” (Source 2) This is a risk because if a hacker gets through they can steal usernames and passwords this can be likely accomplished by the hacker accessing the websites to access either a “MS SQL server database and or a SharePoint database.” (Source 2)
As far as security policies are concerned the main ones that need to be created and addressed are: “enterprise information security policy (EISP), issue-specific security policy (ISSP), and a systems-specific policy (SysPS).” (Source 2) The first EISP is to provide in details the stance the company has on security. This should also include the responsibilities that are required to ensure the safety and security measures of the organization. “An ISSP would cover things like authorized access, equipment usage, and systems management.” (Source 2) The SysPS this would include anything else that company needs to cover and have in written format.
Information assurance is also very important to mention in a video game company. You definitely want to make sure that the systems have the availability to be redundant. You can do this by creating a RAID 5 system in each of the servers. “This becomes redundant because if one drive crashes then a new one can be replaced. This allows the video game system to remain operational as long as possible” (Source 2) Also, if something were to happen to the RAID 5 the system could still remain operational. Something else that you may want to consider is cloning the servers at multiple locations. “The most common type of cloned server would be the domain controllers. File systems can also be cloned as well.” (Source 2) Having this information in 2 different places creates the redundancy as well and can also backup data.
This information should stand as a good starting point for any video game company. The most important thing to remember is that technology changes all the time and in order to keep informed and on top is to always be doing research. Being aware of updates, vulnerabilities and patches will always help your infrastructure. Building on that and using VMware servers and cloning other servers or domain controllers are always going to have you a step ahead of any hacker. “Addressing the security issues and implementing the security controls today will only strengthen each company tomorrow.” (Source 2)
