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Denial of Service

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DoS/DDoS Prevention

This document details guidelines that can be implemented to the school to prevent the recent DDoS attack the school experienced. These guidelines are by no means any requirement, however each will grant an additional layer of security for the current networks and services in production.

Implement Policies and procedures

An Acceptable Use Policy is a policy that defines what type of actions are allowed to be performed on the systems and network to which the policy applies. For the school, an Acceptable Use Policy may state that users of the computers and network must be performing functions related to the school such as homework, administration, research, etc.

In addition to defining what is allowed, the Acceptable Use Policy should also specify what actions will be taken when a user or individual violates the policy. The acceptable use policy should be made accessible to every user. One method to do this would be to display the policy when a user logs in or direct them to where they can read the document. (Glenn, 2003.)

Develop Incident Response Procedures

The incident response procedures should identify the following: ← Define who the respondents are and what each individual's responsibility is ← Specify what data is to be collected and what actions are expected ◦ This would include gathering information on the attacker and a clearly defined resolution path for the team to return systems to a pre-attack state ← Details to when the team should respond ◦ Different systems should be given different priorities depending on their importance. ← How should the team escalate issues when a critical decision is needed to be made? ◦ One method to handle this would be to include a variety of individuals on the team including a key decision maker. (Glenn, 2003.)

Patch Management

All systems has an operating system running on them and vendors for those systems continually release patches when security holes are discovered or new features are implemented. Despite their importance, they can break existing resources or open up new undiscovered security flaws.

It is for these reasons that it is as important to fully test new system patches as it is to get them applied to systems. If possible, patch testing can be done in a virtual environment drastically reducing the number of test machines needed.

A detailed summary of patch testing should be completed and well documented before installing the patches. It may also be beneficial for the patch to be given a second look by another individual before installation. (Glenn, 2003.)
Implement an Audit Schedule

Information systems can and should be audited on a regular basis to check for irregularities, improper configurations, and allow for a time when individuals can critically think about added recommendations that can be implemented.

Information security audits include: ← Reviewing firewall and router ACLs ← Port scanning of firewalls, routers, servers, and other machines ← Performing vulnerability assessments of critical services, computers, and network devices ← Checking users and other access controls ← Analyzing installed software

In the recent attack, if regular audits were performed it is possible that the rogue software could have been detected as well as any network anomalies presented by the software. (Glenn, 2003.)

Implement an Intrusion Detection/Prevention System

An IDS or IPS allows for malicious or strange traffic on the network to be identified and either notify an administrator and even create a firewall rule to put a stop to the traffic.

In the school's case, an IDS or IPS should be placed in front of the network resources of most value if not all network resources. If an IDS or IPS had been in place it would have been possible for an administrator to have been notified the moment the DDoS began. This would facilitate a much quicker response than without the system at all.

In addition, it is possible that other types of traffic could have been detected before the DDoS occurred that would have signaled that some machines may be infected with a foreign software. This would have allowed for the intervention before any malicious act could be performed. (Glenn, 2003.)

References

Glenn, Michael. (August 21, 2003). A Summary of DoS/DDoS Prevention, Monitoring, and Mitigation Techniques in a Service Provider Environment. Retrieved from

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