Failure Mode and Effects Analysis

Firewalls

There are two main reasons why some companies are hesitant to plug into the Internet.

1. They know they’ll be exposing their company data to outside attacks from malicious individuals and malware.
2. They fear their employees might get too many distractions: games, porn, chats, videos, and even social networking sites.

One vital component for your overall security strategy against such concerns? A firewall.

A firewall can block unauthorised access to certain Internet services from inside your organisation as well as prevent unauthenticated access from the outside. It is also used to monitor users’ activities while they were online.

In an enterprise setting, one may expect a collection of firewalls either for providing layered protection or segmenting off different units in the organisation. Some areas only need a standard line of defence while others require more restrictions. As such, certain firewalls may have different configurations compared to others.

Naturally, the more intricate an organisation’s defence requirements get, the more complex the task of monitoring, testing and configuring the firewalls becomes. That’s why we’re here to help.

• We’ll evaluate your network as well as the security requirements of each department under your organisation to determine which firewall architecture is most suitable.
• To achieve maximum efficiency, we’ll point out where each firewall should be positioned.
• We’ll work with your key personnel to make sure all firewall configurations are set and optimised with your business rules in mind.
• If a large number of firewalls are required, we’ll help you set up a firewall configuration management system.
• Firewalls should be regularly tested and assessed to ensure they are in line with the organisation’s security policies. We’ll perform these routine tasks as well.

Firewalls aren’t very good at defending against sophisticated viruses. There are much better solutions for malware-related vulnerabilities, and we can help you in that regard too.

Other defences we’re capable of putting up include:

• Network Security
• Firewalls
• Malware
• Authentication and Access Control
• Mobile Security
• Forensics

Malware

In the past, viruses were created with the sole purpose of wreaking havoc on the infected systems. A large fraction of today’s malware, on the other hand, are designed to generate revenues for the creator. Spyware, botnets, and keyloggers steal information from your system or control it so that someone else can profit. In other words, the motivation for making them is now more attractive than before.

Keyloggers can reveal your usernames, passwords, PIN numbers, and other authentication information to their creators by recording your key strokes. This information can then be used for breaking into various accounts: credit cards, payment programs (like PayPal), online banks, and others. You’re right, keyloggers are among the favourite tools of individuals involved in identity theft.

Much like the viruses of old, most present day malware drain the resources, such as memory and hard disk space, of contaminated systems; sometimes forcing them to crash. They can also degrade network performance and in extreme cases, may even cause a total collapse.

If that’s not daunting enough, imagine an outbreak in your entire organisation. The damage could easily cost your organisation thousands of euros to repair. That’s not even counting yet the value of missed opportunities.

Entry points for malware range from optical disks, flash drives, and of course, the Internet. That means, your doors could be wide open to these attacks at this very moment.

Now, we’re not here to promise total invulnerability, as only an unplugged computer locked up in a vault will ever be totally safe from malware. Instead, this is what we’ll do:

• Perform an assessment of your computer usage practices and security policies. Software and hardware alone won’t do the trick.
• Identify weak points as well as poor practices and propose changes wherever necessary. Weak points and poor practices range from the use of perennial passwords and keeping old, unused accounts to poorly configured firewalls.
• Install malware scanners and firewalls and configure them for maximal protection with minimal effect on network and system performance.
• Implement regular security patches.
• Conduct a regular inspection on security policy compliance as well as a review of the policies to see if they are up to date with the latest threats.
• Keep an audit trail for future use in forensic activities.
• Establish a risk management system.
• Apply data encryption where necessary.
• Implement a backup system to make sure that, in a worst case scenario, archived data is safe.
• Propose data replication so as to mitigate the after effects of data loss and to ensure your company can proceed with ‘business as usual’.

Once we’ve worked with you to make all these happen, you’ll be able to sleep better.

Other defences we’re capable of putting up include:

• Network Security
• Firewalls
• Malware
• Authentication and Access Control
• Mobile Security
• Forensics

Authentication and Access Control

Threats to your data can come from external or internal sources.

1. There are individuals who don’t have the authorisation but are driven by malicious intentions to gain access to certain information. This may refer to individuals who already belong to your organisation (but don’t have the necessary access rights) as well as those who don’t.
2. There are individuals who have both the authorisation and, unfortunately, the malicious intentions over certain information.
3. Finally, there are individuals who have the authorisation, no malicious intentions, but have accidentally exposed the information in question to those without the proper authority.

While curbing threats 2 and 3 would require other methods, threat #1 can be countered if the right authentication and access control systems are in place.

Here’s what we can do for you:

• Work with your key personnel to determine who gets access to what.
• Help you decide whether a single factor or a two-factor authentication (2FA) is appropriate for your organisation and recommend which factors are most suitable. Login methods may include but are not limited to the following:
  • biometric devices
  • Kerberos tickets
  • mobile phones
  • passwords
  • PKI certificates
  • proximity cards
  • smart cards
  • tokens
• Install the necessary infrastructure needed for the factors chosen. For instance, if you opt to use biometrics, then biometric scanners will be installed. We’ll make sure that the authentication terminals are situated in places where achieving optimal traffic and work flow has been taken into consideration.

Other defences we’re capable of putting up include:

• Network Security
• Firewalls
• Malware
• Authentication and Access Control
• Mobile Security
• Forensics