Question

1 Assume that you are working as IT Security section in a company called Xybocin Corp. You company 6M has 150 employees in three departments which are ENG, BUSS and MAN. The company had no firewall to secure its network and the entire company is in one LAN and connected directly to Internet. However Xybocin Corp has one application proxy for SMTP and another Server that has all the customer financial data of Xybocin Corp. The Server is managed by MAN department. 

You have to create a proposal to submit in front of Xybocin Corp management for purchasing four hew firewalls with 18000 OMR. In the proposal you have to design/draw the new network architecture for the company for improving security with firewalls. Mention the advantages of each design components and its importance in improving security of the company. Also, if possible in your design give higher level of security to MAN department and highest level of security to the server with available firewalls. 

2 Mention why users are considered as weakest link in computer security with a relevant example, How you can solve this problem? 

3 Mention the importance of auditability in evaluating firewall products. Give an example. 

Answer 1

Solution 1: Not sure about this question.

Solution 2: Whenever a system is designed it is designed by keeping in mind that it is going to be used by a naive user who doesn't have much knowledge about the functioning of the system and hence it has a higher level of abstraction. Now, since the user is naive hence it is expected that he will make some mistakes while accessing the system. Some such mistakes include trying to access the parts of the application that he/she is not supposed to access, misusing the privileges that he/she is granted with. All these possibilities have to be considered while designing the system in order to cope up with any possible security breach due to any such activities. In order to prevent the system from falling prey to these breaches, the system has to be designed with a very high level of abstraction so that only those who are granted the privileges can only access the system that too with proper authentication. This can be made sure by implementing security concepts such as defense-in-depth, etc while designing the security system of the application.

Solution 2: Just like any other system, a firewall is a system that also requires timely maintenance to ensure the proper security of the computer system. This task is performed by the firewall analyzer that in the end generates a security report that can be used for the auditing of the firewall. It is a kind of analysis of the firewall system to find out the weaknesses and the security issues in the firewall. It doesn't only catch theses issue but also measures the severity of the issue. It helps in catching the weaknesses in the security posture of an organization by finding out the faults in the system. By finding these faults or weaknesses in the system, doesn't only make sure that the system works fine but it also prevents an organization from losing a big sum of money due to these security lapses. Since it cross-verifies the existing firewall rules with the preset rules, it makes sure that the system is always updated.