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Developing a pre-installation security plan
Defining your security policy
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Networking and applications software
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Information in files and databases
Symantec Gateway Security 400 Series is the main tool for enforcing security, letting you define a security
policy that allows or denies access to specific resources throughout your network.
Before writing your security plan
Before you write rules to implement your plan using the
Symantec Gateway Security 400 Series
Administrator’s Guide
and
Symantec Advanced Manager and Symantec Event Manager Administrator’s
Guide
, answer the following questions:
■
How many points of entry exist into your network?
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A security gateway defends a single point of entry. Every point of entry should be protected by a
security gateway.
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A Virtual Private Network (VPN) server also defends a single point of entry. You must decide what
access the VPN server is going to provide for resources that exist behind the security gateway.
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Any desktop or laptop connected to the network is a potential point of entry.
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What types of services do you want to allow for internal users?
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To what hosts, subnets, and users do you want to allow these services?
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What external users will you allow to access your network? Which hosts or subnets will you allow them
to access? During what hours? For what period of time?
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What types of services do you want to allow for external users?
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What type of authentication will you require for external users? (Symantec recommends strong
authentication for any access from public networks.)
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If you are implementing VPN tunnels between internal and external hosts, what types of traffic will be
allowed over these tunnels?
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Will you place your Web server inside or outside of your protected network?
Becoming security-conscious
Developing and implementing a security plan for the security gateway you are installing should be only one
part of your overall security policy. The security gateway offers the best protection against uninvited entry
into your network. However, the security gateway cannot guard against entry by people who pirate
passwords, any more than a sophisticated lock can stop a thief in possession of the right key.
Formulate goals
Take the time to formulate the specific goals of your security plan. Identify the resources you are
protecting and all possible threats. Protecting your resources from unauthorized external
users may be
only one of your goals. You may also need to limit internal
access to certain systems to specific users and
groups, within specific time periods. You will need to define these users and groups for the firewall and how
to configure special services to be passed through these systems.
Symantec Gateway Security 400 Series
Administrator’s Guide
explains how to define users and user groups.
Review issues
Review your organization’s specific issues in detail before you configure the server. Your network’s
security depends on planning sound policies, implementing them carefully, and verifying that they work as
intended.
