Randy Franklin Smith's
Audit and Assessment of Windows Server
Overview
In this hands-on, 3-day seminar you will learn how each control area of
Windows Server 2003 works, how to centrally manage Windows Server 2003 systems,
and how to determine whether your Windows Server 2003 systems are in compliance
with corporate information security policy without looking at each system. You
will master a methodology for performing a detailed audit of Windows Server.
You will be guided through each step of the review, from scope and planning
through evidence extraction analysis, to writing your findings.
Starting with a brief look at Active Directory, you will
cover forests, trees, domains, organizational units, user and group
administration, user rights, and relationships of local, global and universal
groups. In hands-on labs you will perform a combination of administrative- and
audit-related tasks to deepen your grasp of Windows security and how to locate
risks and inadequate controls. You will also cover each item in Microsoft’s
Baseline Security Checklist for Windows Server as well as many additional risks.
You will explore the differences between Windows 2000 and
2003, and how they affect security and audit processes.. You’ll find out about
new user rights and other security options added to Windows Server 2003. You
will examine the user interface and terminology that have changed significantly
between Windows 2000 and 2003 and pinpoint how these changes can cause confusion
and faulty conclusions about security controls. You will learn what’s new in
Windows Server 2003 R2 and how it affects your audit methodology.
You will also exercise the different control areas in Windows
Server 2003, including security logging, account policies, logon controls,
permissions, access control lists, user rights, system services and more. You
will discover how Windows networks should be centrally secured and controlled
using organizational units and Group Policy objects,. You will find out how to
use the new Group Policy Management Console to greatly simplify and accelerate
evidence collection for Windows Server 2003 audits. In addition, you’ll learn
how to take advantage of the growing array of free tools from Microsoft and
others for speeding up and performing more effective audits
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