31 Days Before Your CCNA Exam

270 31 Days Before Your CCNA ExamA security policy meets the following goals:■■■Informs users, staff, and managers of their obligations for protecting technology and informationassets.Specifies the mechanisms through which these requirements can be met.Provides a baseline from which to acquire, configure, and audit computer systems and networksfor compliance with the policy.Common Security ThreatsWhen discussing network security, three common factors are vulnerabilities, threats, and attacks,as described in the sections that follow.VulnerabilitiesVulnerability is the degree of weakness that is inherent in every network and device. Threats arepeople who are interested in and capable of taking advantage of each security weakness.Following are the three primary categories of vulnerabilities:■Technological weaknesses, including the following:— The TCP/IP protocol suite— Operating system security issues— Network equipment weaknesses■Configuration weaknesses, including the following:— Unsecured user accounts— System accounts with easily guessed passwords— Misconfigured Internet services— Unsecured default settings— Misconfigured network equipment■Security policy weaknesses, including the following:— Lack of written security policy— Corporate politics making it difficult to implement a consistent policy— Lack of continuity— Inadequate monitoring and auditing of security— Software and hardware installations and upgrades that do not follow policy— Nonexistent disaster recovery plan