Rethink Remote Access Policy: Evan Francen’s Advice

The next IT expert to offer insight for our how to rethink remote access series is Evan Francen. Evan, an experienced Information Security leader, is a managing partner at FRSecure LLC. FRSecure is a full-service information security consulting company dedicated to information security education, awareness, application, and improvement. Evan shares his thoughts on remote access policy with us.

How would I go about creating my remote access policy?
1) Understand how the business uses remote access
2) Perform a simple risk assessment
3) Write a draft policy with input from management and business units
4) Edit the remote access policy until there is agreement and approval from senior management

What would I include?

Functionally, I would include Approval(s), Version History, Purpose, Audience, and Policy sections at a minimum.

• Approval(s) (Required) – If you expect people to do what the policy tells them to do, they need to know who’s telling them. Management approval gives the information security professional authority to carry out functional control.
• Version History (Required) – Information security policies need to be reviewed on a regular basis. A version history allows reviews and changes to be tracked.
• Purpose (Required) – A simple sentence or two that communicates why the policy exists.
• Audience (Required) – A sentence or two that communicates who must read and comply with the policy. Not all of your users will be remote access users, so not all users need to read the policy.
• Policy (Required) – The meat of the remote access policy. These are the rules that govern remote access. Each rule should be concise and cover a single aspect of your remote access protection.

Why?
How else do you plan on documenting and communicating management’s rules to manage the risks involved with remote access? I know you’re not supposed to answer a question with a question, but I couldn’t resist.

The approach you take to enforce your remote access policy is largely dependent upon the culture of your company. Enforcement = Compliance (sort of). Understand that 90% of your users will never read your policy, so you will probably need to be creative in how you approach employee compliance and use your policy as a reference document. Policy compliance is increased through a mix of communication, training, awareness, monitoring and corrections/sanctions.

What We’re Reading, Week of 10/26

InformationWeek…
Keep Your Laptop Off Our Inadequate Network
In this post, Jonathan Feldman asks why IT people resist end-users bringing their own equipment to the enterprise network. To be able to address issues like this, InformationWeek launched a research survey about end-user device practices in enterprise networks. We look forward to seeing the data and hearing what people had to say!

Enterprise Networking Planet…
Build an IPSEC VPN Without Losing Your Mind
In this article, Charlie Schluting offers some tips on how to build an IPsec VPN. Most people expect to have a difficult time configuring IPsec, but Charlie explains the concepts and makes it a less intimidating process for readers.

InformationWeek…
Should Your Enterprise Network Be An Internet Hot Spot?
Alexander Wolfe discusses whether enterprises should open up their networks, effectively turning them into Internet hot spots. With the emergence of both cloud computing and Windows 7, he says this could be a growing trend. Wolfe suggests Microsoft’s new operating system makes it unnecessary for users to launch VPN clients; instead, the discovery and authentication takes place automatically in the background anytime and anywhere a user connects to the Internet. Therefore, the average user will now perceive the Internet and his/her corporate network as pretty much one and the same thing. What do you think about the idea of the enterprise network as an Internet hot spot?

Rethink Remote Access Policy: Travis Fisher’s Advice

Continuing with our how to rethink remote access series, IT expert Travis Fisher has shared some thoughts on remote access policy with us. Travis is the Executive Vice President of Inacom Information Systems in Salisbury, MD, specializing in developing strong, secure reliable networks for Delmarva organizations.

I’d like to discuss something that isn’t necessarily policy centric, but needs to be addressed during implementation. One thing that isn’t well discussed at this point is who owns the computer during the remote connection and how is it used.

All too often, I see organizations that want remote access, but they do not understand the vulnerabilities that exist when you let an uncontrolled device VPN into your network. At this point, they are behind any access controls and security devices that you have in place. If it’s a shared PC in the family, you open yourself up to all the threats encountered when people consume all of the content on sites that are inappropriate for the workplace.

If you are going to let remote users connect via VPN, you should have a Network Access Control (NAC) solution in place. This will make sure that the device conforms to your security policies.

The general idea is to mitigate the risks associated with granting network access to different classes of users or even to devices that are not directly under the company’s control. It’s going to be up to the network administrator to deploy and configure a NAC solution based upon the needs and resources of their organization.

Common policies that NAC enforces include the device having a current antivirus definition and scan, that the device is validated to be a part of the network and granting appropriate resources for the user. In the event that the remote connection request is not in compliance, the device and user are quarantined until problems can be resolved (i.e., the device can have a new AV definition sent to it, missing patches, etc). The overall goal is to meet any security or regulatory needs in a way that minimizes risk given the amount of management resources available to the administrator.

Rethink Remote Access Policy: Javed Ikbal’s Advice

The next IT expert in our how to rethink remote access series is Javed Ikbal. Javed is the Chief Security Officer at zSquad, an Information Security consulting company in the Boston area. His specialty is building or re-engineering information security programs. Javed has taken some time to share his thoughts on remote access policy.

- Define who may get remote access and the documentation/authorization for getting that privilege
- Document and define the add/change/delete process
- Define if the VPN can be installed on personally owned HW or not
- Prohibit split tunneling
- Enforce endpoint security (patches, AV, local firewall)
- Activity they can do while connected to the VPN

What We’re Reading, Week of 10/19

Around the blogosphere…
With the release of Windows 7 today, there has been quite a bit of discussion about the new version and its features. We have captured some articles and posts that have shared some insight into what Windows 7 will bring.

HowFunky.com
Why Cisco Isn’t Doing What is Right for the Client
In this post, Ed Horley suggests that Cisco is not doing what is right for their customers by only offering a 32-bit VPN client. Many people have upgraded to Windows 7 and 64-bit and he is frustrated that there is no Cisco supported 64-bit IPSec client for Windows Vista or 7.

Gartner
To 64-bit or Not 64-Bit?
Steve Kleynhans discusses that with the launch of Windows 7, corporate customers need to start thinking about 64-bit. If it is not the right time to make the move, they should start preparing for the inevitable 64-bit shift. He suggests that at the very least everyone should include one 64-bit environment in their testing matrix. Steve has been using 64-bit and although he hit a showstopper with his corporate VPN, he resolved the issue and has been successfully running a beta VPN client for several months. If you haven’t already, do you think you will make the transition to 64-bit?

Cnet News
Windows 7 Debuts in New York
In this Live Blog, Ina Fred is updating us with what is happening in New York as CEO Steve Ballmer introduces Microsoft’s newest operating system at a special event. Balmer and Brad Brooks, Windows’ VP of Marketing are showing the crowd Window’s 7 coolest features.

The Windows Blog
What People Are Saying About Windows 7
Blogger, Brandon LeBlanc shares with us a social media “hub” for Windows 7 on Windows.com.  This hub is designed to highlight what consumers are saying about Windows 7, by pulling content from all over the web (via tweets, blog posts, etc.) and bringing it all to one spot.  It’s a great (and convenient) tool to see different opinions on W7.