Network Security: Best Practices

Computerworld - Believe it or not, best practices in network security begin with a top-down policy. Policy begins with understanding what it is you need to protect and what it is you need to protect against. The levels of responsibility need to be understood, and that implies that security is everyone's job, as each employee understands how he or she contributes to the organization. Best practices in network security are more about the what and why of securing the organization's information assets than about the how.

The security policy is a formal definition of an organization's stance on security, meaning what is allowed and what is not allowed. IT executives and managers faced with a myriad of technology choices become quickly overwhelmed at the daunting task of securing the enterprise. It is possible to unmuddy the waters by starting with a three-step framework that will aid in establishing a "best practices" network security program: Prepare, organize and execute. Let's take a look at each piece of this framework in more depth.

STEP 1: Prepare

The preparation stage is three-pronged and involves creating policy statements, conducting a risk analysis and establishing a security team structure.

The policy statement

To create policy statements, the organization needs to assess what levels of security are appropriate and achievable by taking into consideration the organizational structure, individual roles and responsibilities, policies already in place, service level agreements between the IT department and other departments, and even corporate politics. For instance, is the CEO exempt from enforcement of a strict password policy? Is it OK for a manager to request access to an employee's e-mail? Should employees be restricted from accessing the Internet altogether or from accessing particular sites? Are system administrators outside the law?

Policy statements, in particular "Acceptable Use" statements, define users' roles and responsibilities and can be stated as general high-level statements that cover all network systems and data within the organization. The statements should include acceptable use of systems and data for all categories of users including the system administrator. The intent of this policy is to clearly define the purpose, providing guidelines and responsibilities. The policy should also identify specific actions that could be taken in response to a violation of security policy, including disciplinary action. Put it in print and post it on the walls.

Senior management should use either an internal HR or marketing department to make sure the word gets out to all employees. Some companies require the signature of every employee on a copy of the acceptable-use statement. Security awareness training, sometimes included in new-hire training, can include a review of the policy and employee signatures gathered at that point.