Securing Windows XP
By Johnise Felder

Professor Dawn Smith
CMIT 364

Windows XP operating system sets new standards for optimal performance and system reliability. Whether you are a network administrator or just an end-user you can expect to get the most from this system due to its dependable computing and efficient uses. Windows XP operating system was built on Windows NT/2000 technology, which was proven to be more stable than previous operating systems such as 95, 98 or Me (Millennium Edition). Windows XP has a much brighter look and better GUI (graphical user interface) technology. This operating system automatically keeps your PC up to date with the latest security enhancements such as windows firewall that helps to protect your computer from viruses and worms that are spread throughout the Internet. Windows XP also allows quicker access to wireless networks from your laptop and with the built-in Encrypting File System (EFS), found only in Windows XP Professional this provides an additional level of file protection from hackers and data theft by encrypting files with a randomly generated encryption key based cryptographic scheme that encrypts all files in a folder. Users with itinerant profiles can use the same key with trusted remote systems. EFS have some key features that it offers such as, transparent encryption, strong protection of encryption keys, integral data-recovery system and secure temporary and paging files.
Most end-users with personal computers use Windows XP operating system on their home system; there are several steps that should be taken to secure your home PC just as a Network Administrator would secure their networks. First, lets talk about enabling a password for the guest account this should be done to ensure that no one can log into the computer and access valuable information since most of us store critical information like taxes and credit card numbers on our personal computer. Developing a strong password for any account is very important. When setting up a password for a user the administrator should take in affect the following password policies. The administrator should start off with enforcing password history, which will determine the number of unique new passwords a user must use before an old password can be reused. Don’t forget the maximum password age and minimum password age. The maximum password age determines how many days a password can be used before the user is required to change it. The minimum password age determines how many days a user must keep new passwords before they can change them, this setting is designed to work with the enforcement password history. Your minimum password length will determine how short your password can be, this is a requirement because it makes for a safer password that cannot be guessed by outsiders or hackers. And last but not least your password must meet complexity requirements, meaning there should be a special character, number, lowercase, uppercase and Unicode character to make it complex. The guest account on a Windows XP Professional machine is very different when it comes to the Windows XP Home Edition. A guest account on a Windows XP Professional machine is a huge loophole for hackers. Once you have installed Win XP Pro on your machine it is very critical that you disable the account, if your machine belongs to a domain, or to computers that don’t use Simple File Sharing model. When it comes to the Home Edition of XP, disabling the guest account is only removing the listing of the guest account from the Fast User Switching Welcome screen, and the log-on local right. A guest will still be able to connect to share information of an affected machine. The only possible solution for avoiding these things is to just implement a strong password to the guest account.
Enabling the Internet connection firewall too can protect your personal computer from hackers and outside intruders. A firewall is used to monitor network activity that may be directed to or from your computer. Another good way to secure your computer is virus protection and anti-spyware. Active antivirus software is a necessity when connecting to the Internet since other Internet users can see your computer. When it comes to Internet Explorer (IE), or any web browser there are a lot of features that should be enforced when using these web browsers. Managing your cookies is another feature that should be used. Cookies allow your computer to keep track of a users data, so far as preferences and often their passwords on a particular site they may have visited.
Deleting your cookies in Internet options. Deletion of the cookies might contain some website that contain viruses that were visit through pop-ups and may have planted there cookies on your pc. Windows XP does not come with built in virus protection so it is the sole responsibility of the end user to obtain such software. Major manufacturers include Norton Antivirus, avast! Antivirus, and Trend Micro (normally found on large networks). Spyware was created to steal personal information and valuable data for unsavory purposes like identity theft. This software is installed on the computer without the users informed consent usually in the form of pop-ups. Anti-spyware is used to prevent this from happening. To stay on top of the latest viruses that are out you can receive alerts through instant messaging, e-mail and RSS notifications.
Home computer users should always enable a daily backup schedule, since no computer is immune to system failures and hardware crashes. Backing up your Operating System and data is a critical step in computing. Hardware eventually breaks down in the same manner as a vehicle may. Could your data withstand this incident? Are you prepared to lose all your family photos? Are you prepared to lose all the important telephone numbers that were saved in your address book? I would assume the answers to these critical questions are no. Windows XP makes data backup easier by allowing all users to have their own accounts installed on the same computer. You can enable data backup right from your computer, it would be beneficial to set the day and time that you may be at work that way there are no interruptions on the computer while its backing up your data, or you can save the data to CD’s or DVD’s.
Also another good method to secure your small home or office operating system is to use a router instead of Internet Connection Sharing (ICS). When it comes to ICS it allows you to share that connection with other computers that may be in your home or small office. With this being said if the main PC is infected, this causes the other PC’s to be vulnerable to infections. With a router it’s faster and easier to configure and more secure.
Another tool that is very useful to securing your XP system is making sure that you have Service Pack 2 (SP2) installed on your machine. Every month, Microsoft releases new update drivers, software, tools and security enhancements that enhance the performance of your computer. These updates can be downloaded from the home of the user or normally in an organization environment; customer machines are already set to automatically install updates. This process is done to keep the users computer current. The updates improve your computers health and security. Microsoft update is easy to install and setup and allow the user to customize them for their personal use. To set up automatic updates on your operating system you will go to the start menu. Then you will click control panel, performance and maintenance and click system. You will then see an automatic update tab giving you the option to click the setting of your choice. Using a software restriction policy, will allow you to prevent unwanted programs from running on your machine. Having this software to run without permissions can be very critical to the machine if you are unaware of what is being downloaded.
In an office location big or small organization, it is very critical for all users to lock their workstation when leaving their system unattended. A password-protected screensaver is a good approach when it comes to securing XP. This allows your machine to lock after a set amount of minutes you have set on your machine. Not having this feature enable on your system is grounds for an internal threat from taking advantage of an unlocked console. A lot of users have a tendency of leaving and not applying by the rule. Using the Security Configuration Manager and templates that were provided with XP Professional is another good measure for securing your operating system. SCM allows security administrators to define security templates that can be applied to individual machines or any number of machines via group policy or to your local computer. These security templates can contain password policies, lockout policies, Kerberos policies; audit policies and event log settings just to name a few. I think that a define security template is more beneficial to the users than the predefine templates; because this allows the user to secure there machine the way that they prefer. The use of group policy is an additional helpful tool in securing your operating system. It allows you to administer configuration of computer and users settings in an Active Directory environment. By logging on as an administrator you can use a fairly straightforward tool called the Group Policy snap-in to define security settings for a local computer, to control the use of more than 800 aspects of the operating system’s conduct, and to computerize what happens at startup and shutdown and when users log on or off. This tool is very supportive because it want allow every one to have there hands in the pot when it comes to configuring the machines logged on as an administrator. When you feel that you have secured your operating system with the best tools out there, you can always test and verify how secure your machine really is. Some organizations will set forth a plan to have attackers to work in attempt to gain access to there network. Some individuals will also use time-honored techniques like creating a honeypot, which is a sacrificial system that attracts attackers. A lot of home users don’t have access to these type of techniques. So for the home users there are numerous free security scanners and security assessment tools that are available. But be careful because some free sites might contain viruses, so be careful on what you download. You can also check your security updates against the latest updates that are provided on the Microsoft Baseline Security Analyzer website. In conclusion to securing windows XP operating system I hope the information that I have supplied in this paper is beneficial to everyone who may read it. It is the sole responsibility of the end user to ensure that each of our individual workstations is secured. For major companies it is the sole responsibility of the Network Administrator to ensure that the company’s information is safe and secure and that no outsiders have access to the information that the company is producing. The fact still remains that this country is ran with pertinent information, which is stored on servers and desktop computers if an outside attacker is ever compromised this information this country could be in extremely deep trouble. During my research I found that there have been instances in the United States of America where intruders were able to access information and use it for all the wrong purposes.
Without information and computer security everyone is vulnerable to attacks and threats. Most identity thefts happen because someone was unaware that an intruder was compromising their information. I think that there should be more IT security awareness steps taken at each person’s place of employment to offer education.

Bibliography

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Hassell, Jonathan (2006), Hardening Windows, Second Edition, Ch. 4 Windows XP Security (pg, 125) Apress 2006