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  • #2273472

    shared drives

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    by gsrobison ·

    I am doing consulting work for a few companies, acording to their software tech support people, the software requires a fully shared c: drive, accessed for read/write. most of these companies are on broad band, i was always thought that this will cause major problems for outside access. I wanted to install norton internet security at least to help prevent some of the possible hacks, but the tech support persons said NO. just rely on the routers firewall, the cust. did not want to purchase expensiuve routers, so the went with low end routers. what is the best answer to give to my customers.

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    • #2726558

      Reply To: shared drives

      by jireland607 ·

      In reply to shared drives

      If i was in your position I would look at installing a software firewall on each computer. It is not easy for a hacker to attack a computer behind a router without having a VPN setup.

      I would then ask the software tech people to speak to the company to explain the implications. Other than that there is little you can do.

      It might be worth testing security on it by changing the share permissions for the drive. We have spoken to companies in the past who recommend the same measure but found it is only to prevent future problems.

    • #2726497

      Reply To: shared drives

      by stress junkie ·

      In reply to shared drives

      The nice thing about consulting is that you can
      ethically walk away from this sort of thing. I’ve done
      consulting and direct employment over the years. As a
      direct employee I always took the position that things
      like security are everyone’s business and that all direct
      employees share responsibility in seeing that the
      business is protected and that money isn’t wasted, etc.
      I honestly believe that as a consultant you can ethically
      ignore all of that. The consultant is usually hired to
      provide talent withing an extremely limited scope.
      Anything outside that scope isn’t your problem. Even if
      you have a broad scope of responsibility the best that
      you can do is to advise the locals. It is up to them to
      either accept or reject your advise. Ultimately the
      business management is responsible to see that
      qualified people are addressing business issues
      correctly. If the locals don’t want your advise, or if they
      create a ridiculous environment and don’t want to hear
      about your perception, then just do your work and
      leave. On the other hand when I’ve been a direct
      employee I believe that I am morally obliged to keep
      trying to correct the problems at the risk of being
      labelled ‘persona non gratis’ or worse. So I believe that
      consulting reduces your obligation to see that problems
      are fixed.

      • #2726460

        Reply To: shared drives

        by gsrobison ·

        In reply to Reply To: shared drives

        Poster rated this answer.
        I understand the ethics, but need to know if data is secure behind just a router firewall. ( low end )

    • #2726465

      Reply To: shared drives

      by gsrobison ·

      In reply to shared drives

      I have NIS installed on one customers 3 systems, with security levels down to its lowest settings, to enable write to server, but is the data secure sitting behind a low end router with firewall? one other cust. said NO to the NIS, will just use the router’s firewall. For data security, will these be sufficient?

    • #2726304

      Reply To: shared drives

      by xanderoth ·

      In reply to shared drives

      A low end firewall or high end firewall makes little difference. “High end” usually means better reporting, tracking and management tools. Firewalls are excellent detterants because they prevent your casual hacker from access your system, but no firewall is totally secure unless it is totally inaccessable. A simple NAT router would be sufficient to keep 99% of all malicious users out.

    • #2727163

      Reply To: shared drives

      by gsrobison ·

      In reply to shared drives

      This question was closed by the author

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