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New Network Administrator Needs basics

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I've been thrust into a network admin position. How do I control who has access to a server? I have set users accounts and established permissions, but still find unathorized users "piped" onto or through my server. These UA users do not appear to be using resourses, but I can't explain it successfully to anyone, or myself for that matter, as to why these other users are showing up on the security audits.

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by caper

If you are a new NetAdmin I would advise an immediate visit to the MS security site and also search for a document called "Armouring NT" on the net...The MS site has good info...also right here at TechRepublic you could get some good tips on how to lockdown the box.

by destructo

I think there is another point consider in this case. What services your server runs would pretty much mean you might have opened up more "holes" for people to probe your server. Take the effort to check through services and disable those that are not required.

Say, if your server is a file server, not web access, then you should disable the IIS services. It is a tough start but you will need to determine what runs and what doesn't

by efbee

Thing is that in order to control all access to your server you'll first need to identify what services you would like to give access to and to whom. Then decide on how you want to give them access. A good start for this is a risk assessment: what risks are introduced by opening up a service and what to do to control that risk.
As said earlier, locking down your OS is the first step. Then lock down your applications as well. As you have identified UA users, you'll probably know how they got access. If not, try to improve logging by adding more details.
Often UA users still get access through unexpected trust relations between systems. Removal of these trust relations is part of the lockdown process.

by hedrickchris

Depending on your needs of your customers and server availability, it's best if you configure secure shell (ssh). This will eliminate the need for most of your services (that are pretty insecure for the most part even if you tighten down the ports {/etc/services}). SSH is available for free, so cost is not an issue.

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