Randy Franklin Smith's
Audit and Assessment of Windows Workstations
Overview
Once regarded as inconsequential, the importance of corporate workstation
security has leaped to center stage as a result of several trends.
First, worms target workstations because of their shear quantity on the network.
Second, the ubiquity of client/server technology has shifted critical business
logic from mainframe systems to client applications running on workstations. An
attacker that compromises the workstation of a privileged user gains access to
all the transactions and information the legitimate user authorized.
As Internet browsers and mobile code have become ever more functional the risk
of malicious content on web servers has become ever greater. And while it used
to be safe to say that workstations were free of confidential information,
laptops and the increasing need for access to corporate information by mobile
and remote users has ended any such notion. Moreover the increasing
sophistication of Trojan horses and back door programs have made it easier than
ever to gain remote control of workstations and leverage the user’s authority to
access network resources. Today, workstations are a critical extension of the
corporation’s IT infrastructure and need controls based security like any other
component of the network.
Windows XP and Vista come with a wide array of security technologies that
organizations can bring to bear on information security risks. You will learn
about Windows Firewall, how it should be centrally controlled using group policy
and how to assess its configuration. You will find out how Software Restrictions
can be used to control the user’s ability to run unauthorized software and
hacker tools. You’ll discover how the Windows desktop can be locked down using
group policy to disable dangerous features and reduce support calls. You’ll also
learn how to protect confidential information on laptops using XP’s Encrypting
File System and Vista's BitLocker and other hardware based controls that are
becoming increasingly popular with laptop manufacturers.
With thousands of features however, Windows workstations can also open up holes
in your corporate risk management strategy. In this eye-opening, 3-day hands-on
seminar you will discover the range of risks that Windows workstations face and
how to address them with the concepts of defense-depth, least privilege and
attack surface reduction. You will learn how each control area of Windows
workstations works, how to centrally manage Windows XP and Vista
workstations,and how to determine whether your workstations are in compliance
with corporate information security policy.
You will learn the differences between XP and Vista workstations and you will
master a methodology for controlling and auditing your workstation environment
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