Keeping ahead of trouble

I’m trying to ensure our network is as safe as can be reasonably expected. We have a good firewall in place, anti-virus protection on the servers and workstations, etc. What can I do so stay ahead of problems or be able to react quickly to them when they show up on the network? – Via the Internet

I’m trying to ensure our network is as safe as can be reasonably expected. We have a good firewall in place, anti-virus protection on the servers and workstations, etc. What can I do so stay ahead of problems or be able to react quickly to them when they show up on the network?

– Via the Internet

If you haven’t already, add www.cert.org to the list of Web sites you periodically review. You should subscribe to its listserv, which will automatically send you updates when it releases advisories or incident notes to ongoing situations. Also sign up at your vendors’ sites for their notification system of patches, workarounds, updates or other information. There are also several good listservs available on www.insecure.org that you might want to look at. Subscribing to a lot of listservs won’t do you any good if you don’t look at the information coming in. Think about setting up e-mail filtering rules to automatically file the incoming mail into separate folders for each of the listservs to keep things manageable.

Another good source of information is the SANS site. It features a Top 20 vulnerability list, updated periodically, which is a consensus of vulnerabilities you should review periodically. The SANS Reading Room is another good area where you can learn how to better use your firewall, other ways of monitoring your network and more. There is no one way that is right for everyone.

You can also look for a user group or some type of professional association that has companies similar to yours. This can be a very good source of information on how to handle problems and avoid solutions that may not be the best for your situation. In time, you may find contacts at nearby companies that can be a big help. Remember, you must give as well as take for everybody to benefit.