Client Server Network Security and its threats

Client Server Network Security and its threats

1. CLIENT-SERVER NETWORK SECURITY L R Siva Raman Assistant Professor PG & Research Department of International Business Sri Ramakrishna College of Arts & Science

2. Overview System administrators face the challenge of balancing user accessibility with site security and confidentiality of local information. Network security on the internet is a major concern for commercial organizations, particularly for top management. Connecting to the internet can expose a local network to the entire internet population, breaching the physical security perimeter of the corporate network.

3. Security Concerns Even relaxed organizations must pay attention to security. For many commercial operations, security involves ensuring existing system features, such as passwords and privileges, are properly confined. Auditing all network access, including recording all login attempts (especially unsuccessful ones), can alert managers to the need for stronger measures. Additional measures are necessary where secrets or important corporate assets must be available to remote users. Hackers can employ password guessing, password trapping, security holes in programs, or common network access procedures to impersonate users, posing a threat to the server.

4. Types of Security Holes 1. Physical Security Holes: Unauthorized physical access to computers, such as in public workstation rooms, where a hacker could reboot a machine into single-user mode and tamper with files. 2. Software Security Holes: Badly written programs or compromised 'privileged' software can lead to security breaches. For example, the ' sendmail ' hole of 1988 or creating a 'root' shell with super user access. 3. Inconsistent Uses Holes: Flawed combinations of hardware and software by system administrators create security vulnerabilities. These problems are hard to isolate once the system is running, so systems should be carefully built with security in mind .

5. Physical Security Holes Unauthorized physical access examples. Public workstation room scenario. Network system access through password guessing.

6. Software Security Holes Badly written or compromised programs. ' Sendmail ' hole example. Creation of 'root' shell or super user access.

7. Inconsistent Uses Holes Flawed hardware and software combinations. Difficulty in isolating problems once the system is running. Importance of careful system building.

8. Protection Strategies 1. Trust-Based Security 2. Security Through Obscurity (STO) 3. Password Schemes 4. Biometric Systems

9. Trust-Based Security & STO Trust-Based Security: Assumption of user trustworthiness. STO: Hiding operational details and providing information on a need-to-know basis.

10. Password Schemes & Biometric Systems Password Schemes: First-level barrier, one-time passwords, smart cards, tokens. Biometric Systems: Fingerprints, retinal patterns, voice recognition, high implementation cost.