SECURING FIBRE CHANNEL FABRICS - Brocade

Chapter 1: IntroductionThe SAN Security DilemmaThe individuals responsible for managing the storage environment typicallyhave a limited knowledge of IT security. In many cases, security isactually viewed as an impediment to performing the daily activities ofthe storage and SAN administrators.Conversely, the individuals responsible for ensuring security of informationare generally less knowledgeable in the storage and SANenvironment than they are of a conventional TCP/IP-based local area orwide area network (LAN or WAN). There is often an assumption on bothsides of the fence that the SAN does not need to be secured, since it is aclosed and physically protected environment that is not accessible tooutsiders. Although this line of thinking is not entirely false, a closedenvironment does not offer any protection against attack from insiders,which poses the primary threat against a SAN and storage environment.IT managers and decision makers with limited IT budgets need to makeimportant choices regarding which projects receive funding and howmuch of the budget goes to each project. Network security certainlyreceives a great deal of attention and funding, but there is still a misconceptionthat SANs and storage require only minimal security measures,since they are isolated from the outside world and protected from outsidethreats. As suggested earlier, outsiders are not the primary threatto a SAN but insiders, whether malicious or otherwise, pose the greatestthreat. More and more cases are reported of insiders stealing backuptapes or disk drives containing sensitive company information such asmedical, research, financial, and customer information. Many caseshave been reported of employees actually copying information and takingit with them before they leave their employer and then selling it tocriminal elements or using the information in their next position with acompetitor. A black market has developed for certain types of data, particularlycredit card and other financial information. Organized crime hasbecome increasingly involved in cybercrime, as well as foreign government-sponsoredhacker groups seeking to steal highly confidentialinformation, such as intellectual property, in order to quickly gain a competitiveadvantage.The second edition of this book is primarily intended to continue to raiseawareness among the storage, security, and IT management professionalsof the need to secure their SANs. If successful, understanding moreabout security issues raised in this book will help bridge the knowledgeand cultural gap between the storage and security groups within anorganization, which in turn will help IT managers better understand therisks and potential liability issues associated with their SAN.4 Securing Fibre Channel Fabrics