Protect Your Servers: Follow these Steps

If you're a small business, you may not have more than a server or two. But no matter how few or how many servers you are running, your network relies on them. They serve the applications or web pages or e-mail your team needs to do their jobs. They store valuable and/or confidential information resources. They provide a means for your customers to communicate with you, perhaps even purchase goods or services from you.

Basic Steps You Can Take

Many of the procedures already discussed will help protect your servers too. So if you haven't yet taken care of the following, make these steps a priority:

Step 1: Protect Your Desktops and Laptops

Step 2: Keep Your Data Safe

Step 3: Use the Internet Safely

Step 4: Protect Your Network

Even with those security measures addressed, there is more you can do to protect your servers.

1. Keep your servers in a safe place. Businesses must make sure that their servers are not vulnerable to physical calamities. Locate these machines in a secure, well-ventilated room, not in a hallway or under a desk where someone might inadvertently kick or spill coffee on them. Or mischievously tinker with them. Your server room should have no windows and a single door you can lock. Server cases should also be locked to prevent tampering with internal components. Know which employees have keys to the server room. You should also keep a record of the serial numbers of your servers, and mark them with your company information, so they can be identified and recovered if stolen.

2. Practice least privilege. With Windows 2000 Server, Windows Server 2003 and Small Business Server 2003, it is possible to assign users different permission levels. Rather than giving all users "Administrator" access - which is not a best practice for maintaining a secure environment for PCs or servers - you should use your servers to manage client PCs. Windows Servers can be configured to give individual users access to specific programs only, and to define which user privileges are allowed on the server. This ensures users can't make changes in areas that are critical to the server or client PC operation. It also prevents them from installing software that may introduce a virus or otherwise compromise the integrity of your network.

3. Understand your security options. Today's servers are more secure than ever, but the powerful security settings you find in Windows server products are only good if they are used appropriately and monitored aggressively. If your team doesn't have an IT specialist and/or expertise in security issues, consider hiring an outside consultant to work with you to appropriately protect your servers.

Source: Microsoft

Three Security Bulletins for Patch Plan by Microsoft

Microsoft is prepping three security bulletins affecting Windows next week as part of Patch Tuesday. The most serious of the bulletins addresses a remote code execution situation. There is no word, however, on a patch for the Microsoft Office Excel zero-day Microsoft warned users about last month.

Microsoft plans to push out three security bulletins next week, the most serious of which is meant to squash at least one remote code execution bug in Windows.

All three bulletins deal with security bugs in Windows, with the other two addressing what Microsoft characterized as "spoofing" issues. The remote code execution bulletin is rated “critical,” and affects Windows 2000, XP, Vista and Windows Server 2003 and 2008.

This month's patch lineup does not include a fix for the zero-day vulnerability affecting Microsoft Office Excel that hackers have been targeting in recent weeks. Microsoft issued an advisory on the bug Feb. 24, warning the bug could allow a hacker to execute arbitrary code if a specially crafted Excel file attempts to access an invalid object.

So far, Microsoft has only reported seeing limited, targeted attacks leveraging the vulnerability. However, the company has publicized workarounds for users concerned about exploitation. For one, Microsoft advises customers to use MOICE opening files from unknown or untrusted sources. Users can also take advantage of Microsoft Office File Block policy to block the opening of Office 2003 and earlier documents from unknown or untrusted senders as well.

The spoofing issues addressed in the two bulletins slated for next week are rated “important.” One of those two bulletins covers Windows 2000, XP, Vista and Windows Server 2003 and 2008. The final bulletin, however, only impacts Windows 2000 and Windows Server 2003 and windows server 2008.

Source:

Microsoft Releases Security patch for old Windows versions

Microsoft has rereleased an update that patches a remote code execution security issue in the Graphics Rendering Engine in old versions of Windows. Most users do not have to worry about installing the update.

Microsoft has rereleased a security update that was originally released back in 2005. It was revised to address minor issues "unrelated to the stability of the update or the security of the intended target systems." Most users have already applied this update and don't need to apply it again. The vulnerability is only found in older versions of Windows, 32-bit and 64-bit versions of Windows Server 2003, Windows Small Business Server 2003, Windows XP Tablet PC Edition, Windows 2000 SP4, and Small Business Server 2000.

However, the rereleased update (4.8MB) is only for various editions of Windows Server 2003 64-bit. Server 2003 customers who never installed the previous update will now be offered the revised one. The update should be offered automatically to these users.

When originally disclosed, the vulnerability was given a Critical rating by Microsoft because it included a remote code execution security issue in the Graphics Rendering Engine that could allow an attacker to remotely compromise the Windows-based system and gain control over it. Microsoft Security Bulletin MS05-053 has more information about the security issue that was fixed.

Source: http://arstechnica.com/microsoft/news/2009/02/security-patch-rereleased-for-old-windows-versions.ars