Other than network attacks which can be highly damaging to your company infrastructure, it is also essential to prevent network intrusions as they can result in company secrets leaking out. Employees in the company itself should also be kept under supervision at all times.

General measures

Related links

History of hacking
About Network attacks
About Network intrusion
Safeguarding your data

• Never put out a public claim or publicize that your network is impossible to intrude. Every network has its weaknesses and loopholes and by proudly saying that yours does not, you are simply inviting trouble. Hackers will take it as a dare or challenge and will try their level best to break into your network.
• The clichéd phrase “Don’t trust anybody” holds true here. As much as possible, do not give anyone too much access. Try to trust as few people as possible as even people you trust can be careless sometimes. The larger the pool of people in the know, the easier it is for a social engineer.
• Always have the basic necessities, namely antivirus, firewall and intrusion detection system. Keep them updated all the time.
• Always try to practice the principle of “Mind your own business”. Never make any enemies or too many close friends. Try as far as possible to avoid inviting any unwanted trouble.
• Hire network experts to probe through your network and identify your loopholes. When found, fix them before any hacking attempts occur. See our article on ethical hacking.

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Preventing thieves

• Banks can impose a limit of a maximum of a $5000 online withdrawal limit to minimize damage and loss in the case of hacking attempts on the online bank service.
• Try as much as possible to remove the superuser account. Do not let anybody have access to it other than you. Normal activities should be done in normal accounts, not in superuser ones. This is especially true of Unix systems.
• Do monthly audits of accounts to check any discrepancies so that the owner of the account can be informed. For more security, audits can be done at more regular intervals.

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Thwarting social engineers

• Ensure that all personnel are given a basic course on computer security. Ignorance is a real weakness here.
• If possible, try to use automatic protection systems such as biometric devices instead of humans for security. Unlike humans, these systems can’t be talked into doing something.
• No one should give anyone any password prior to verifying that the other person is an employee of the company. Too often, social engineers pretend to be an employee working in some obscure department of a large company and can deceive real employees to revealing passwords.

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Detecting impersonators

• Always log the IP (Internet Protocol) adresses of those who log in as administrators in your network. If any IP does not belong in your network, cut him from the network or report it to the authorities.

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Prevent Deliberate Data Destruction (DDD)

• Ensure that your system administrator performs regular backups of your system on tape drives so lost data can be retrieved anytime a problem crops up.
• Never store very important data for public consumption if it is not absolutely necessary.

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Reference

Detecting Signs of Intrusion
http://www.cert.org/security-improvement/modules/m09.html

Network Intrusion Detection
http://www.comptechdoc.org/independent/security/recommendations/secintdet.html

Introduction to Network Security - Intrusion Detection
http://www.securitydocs.com/library/3022

Intrusion Detection
http://www.nss.co.uk/Articles/IntrusionDetection.htm