Network Security Policy

Overview

Consistent server installation policies, ownership and configuration management will protect unsecured and vulnerable servers from malicious threat actors.

Purpose

The purpose of this policy is to establish standards for the base configuration of internal server equipment that is owned and/or operated by the Company. Effective implementation of this policy will minimize unauthorized access to proprietary information assets.

Scope

All CodeREADr employees, contractors, consultants, temporary and other workers must adhere to this policy. This policy applies to server equipment that is owned, operated, or leased by our company or available on our internal network.

Policy

A) General Requirements

1. All internal servers deployed at our company must be owned by an operational group that is responsible for system administration. Approved server configuration guides must be established and maintained by each operational group, based on business needs and approved by the data protection officer. Operational groups should monitor configuration compliance and implement an exception policy tailored to their environment. Each operational group must follow appropriate change management procedures and maintain inventory of network assets..

2. For security, compliance, and maintenance purposes, only authorized personnel may monitor and audit equipment, systems, processes, and network traffic.

B) Configuration Requirements

1. Operating System configuration should be in accordance with approved guidelines.

2. Services and applications that will not be used must be disabled where practical.

3. Access to services should be logged and/or protected through access-control methods

4. The most recent security patches must be installed on the system as soon as practical.

5. Trust relationships between systems are a security risk, and their use should be avoided.

6. Always use standard security principles of least required access to perform a function.

7. Privileged access must be performed over secure channels.

8. Servers should be physically located in an access-controlled environment.

9. Servers are specifically prohibited from operating from uncontrolled cubicle areas.

10. Do not use root when a non-privileged account will do.

C) Monitoring

1. All security-related events on critical or sensitive systems must be logged and audit trails saved:

  • All security related logs will be kept online for a minimum of 1 week.
  • Daily backups will be retained for at least 1 month.
  • Weekly backups of logs will be retained for at least 1 month.
  • Monthly full backups will be retained for a minimum of 2 years.

2. Security-related events will be reported to the data protection officer, who will review logs and report incidents to IT management. Security-related events include, but are not limited to:

  • Port-scan attacks
  • Evidence of unauthorized access to privileged accounts
  • Anomalous occurrences that are not related to specific applications on the host.

Policy Compliance

The data protection officer will verify compliance to this policy through various methods. Any exception to the policy must be approved by the data protection officer in advance. An employee found to have violated this policy may be subject to disciplinary action, up to and including termination of employment.