Fresh System Administrator

Hey folks !! ..

I'm not all that new to networking.I've read several manuals and books on networking.

But i really lack practical experience as i didn't have access to a network during the time i

did my studies. Now i've been made the system administrator of my college!. The former

administrator advised me not to put up a firewall as it would really slowdown the connection(

64kbps :mad: ).He thinks that noone would ever wanna hack into the network. I know its not

safe to practice security by obscurity. There isn't any data of great importance too in these

systems.The network is just used for students to access the internet. I know there

are a lot of experienced people out there in AO. I really need your advice.

Get a firewall..get a firewall...get a firewall. It's as simple as that.

Lesson 1 I learned wayback in the day. Always use someone else's computers to do your dirty work. The prime targets of choice for this are colleges, because normally their security is lax.

Guess what? your school fits the mold. Bro, without that firewall, you're proxy heaven for some pretty nasty stuff going on, both from within and outside your school. Lock it down. Lock it down hard. Getting the firewall is just the first step.

Congrats on the promotion and luck to you!

I think you will get the same response from everyone here; get a firewall in place even if its a free software based one. That would be better than nothing

A firewall will not slow down your connection.... It might have done a 1000 years ago but we have advanced a little since the abacus.

I totally understand your situation. I was the fresh admin with nothing but book experience beforehand myself, as I didn't have a network to really learn on either. That was last December. Many AO threads and a few months later, and I'm starting to get a pretty good grip on things (a lot of thanks due to the above poster inparticular).

Hang in there and ask us lots of questions. You'll rack up practical experience in no time now that you're behind a real network.

But I agree with everyone else. Get a firewall. It shouldn't hurt your network performance. You may have no critical data to protect, but your systems can still be used by attackers for malicious purposes, i.e., being turned into zombies, etc.

So tigershark .. r u saying that a firewall won't affect the speed ?

facts of life:

1) yes, some will hack your computer even with that bandwidth. Just because
a) kiddies have nothing betther to do;
b) sometimes is a automated process (a bot) the invade a system; it doesnt matter if t is 10Mb or a 33k dial up - every resource has a value
2) As Tiger notice, it wont slowdown a connection - depending on of characteristics of firewall, it can even get your connection better - buffer contention, compressing - and a proxy-cache will improve your http response time
3) Prolly that admin you've mencioned has no knowledge of firewall and saying that crap he can avoid to learn it.

Thanks all ...... I'll get a firewall as soon as possible...

Yupper-roo
Get a firewall. The "dont use XXXX on the network it will slow it down" is used a lot for virus scanning and firewalls, etc.

The real answer to that is improperly configured firewalls will slow it down. I know a colledge admin that uses the same reasoning, and refuses to wall up his network. He cames he has never been hacked..... I just add never that he knows of. And it has been a major issue with some of the other business that deal with the school, but he hasn't budged yet.

Sighh. Get a firewall.
:)

Quote:

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Originally posted here by PacketThirst
Hey folks !! ..
The former
administrator advised me not to put up a firewall as it would really slowdown the connection(
64kbps :mad: ).He thinks that noone would ever wanna hack into the network. I know its not
safe to practice security by obscurity. There isn't any data of great importance too in these
systems.The network is just used for students to access the internet. I know there
are a lot of experienced people out there in AO. I really need your advice.

---

Your former administrator is an idiot. You'll need some sort of firewall to protect your network - hardware, software, doesn't matter, but you'll be needing something. I'm wondering if that's part of the reason he is the 'former' administrator? Anyway, just because you have the perception that no one wants to gain access to your network doesn't mean that that's the reality - the home user is the perfect example. A typical home user may think that no one wants access to their PC, but if that's the case why all these worms and such?

A properly configured firewall is not going to slow your connection down - and it's a must you provide some sort of protection for your your network, your users, and any other resources on that network. GET A FIREWALL!

even if you dont have much data to compromise, they can still use your boxes as drones.

Most firewall setups should operate at line speed or close to it unless there is some sort
of encryption going on. That can and often does slow things down a bit.

I'm guessing you don't plan to terminate any VPN connections with your baby link
to the net.

So whats up with such a small link?
Get the firewall AND a new connection!! :)

Cheers,

SGS

Quote:

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Get the firewall AND a new connection!!

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Yeah, the connection is less that $100 if you have to get a business cable connection, (closer to $40 if you can drag a DSL there or the cable company gives you a break for being an educational institution).... Course, IIRC, you are in India.... Which might negate my whole response.... :o

ok enough with the simple get a firewall stuff... although it is important.
if it is not so already, enforce username and lpassworded log ins, set it to require a password change every month or so and to enforce somewhat of a strong password. at least 8 char.
monitor bandwith usage. set the user accounts not to be able to install software, unless approved.
use a seriously strong password on the admin account(if present) on the workstations.

And also to all the above.If your network has been that open take a good look at your clients and see what they have running, just to make sure you havn't got some sort of pron or warez server.

What's the time now for an unprotected machine to be on the internet before it's compromised? 12 minutes I think I heard... Maybe it's 20. Either one is too short for me. It will probably only be some lame worm that infects it, it's still a pain to fix or rebuild.

Tell your old admin this... If he wants to see slow internet connectivity wait untill some of those machines on your network have some worm chowing down on your bandwidth. Ask anyone who's been there. It's a pain unless you like working late nights and weekends.

Good Luck!

/quote use a seriously strong password on the admin account(if present) on the workstations. /endquote

WIPE the admin account (if present) on the workstations. Install a 'ghost image' of what should actually be on their systems on the server. Setup the workstations to reinstall this image weekly. Force the users to backup their personal docs and explain that if they don't, they're gone forever. Don't let them install jack without you standing over their shoulder watching with a loaded gun and their termination papers to their head. Constantly review your sniffer logs to make sure they're not cheating - if they are, shoot them before you have them fired. Shoot them twice if they're downloading Pron from beyond.

Oh, and get a faster connection. It's well worth the investment if you can present the need correctly to those who hold the purse strings.

What college runs a 64K!?!?! and for the love of GOD get a firewall, and a firewall router. I am the admin for my highschool and the former admin was kinda like yours, had no need for security, before I was granted admin status, I was just a good ole hacker and was in and out of that network so many times from the inside and out. also, look over every bit of data, because the old admin never caught on that I had crammed the server full of music and data. and dont be foolish, if you can think it, it could happen, and most likely will, keep backups on a portable harddrive, it saves hours of stress in a crash or hack...

Also, keep your actual server in a secure place. and switches, routers, etc. AND make sure that there is no 802.11x running somewhere, because most likely there is one up somewhere and it is VERY insecure...

much needed software: ettercap, snort, nmap.. and the list goes on...

<marquee>Shugart</marquee>

lol actually from experience, NOT putting a firewall will make ur network slower to the point that ud think its dead. few months ago my collage was hit by SASSER coz the firewall was down for some bloody reason. and for weeks, we couldnt even load a single web page, it kept timming out.

I know some of you won't like this.
Try to get a copy of passprop and run it with /adminlockout.
It'll lockout remote admin access.
It help keep some of the monkeys out.

I would say if your network hasn't already been compromised I would be surprised (given the old admin's attitude.)

You may want to start by analyzing the network you just inherited to make SURE it is clean before going to a lot of work installing additions.

- aftiel