CIW Security Professional Series:

Operating System Security (CIWOSS)

Operating System Security is a two-day course designed to teach students the latest security industry recommendations and how to properly protect Windows NT and Linux servers in a variety of settings. Students will learn how to protect NT and Linux systems from attacks, reconfigure the operating system to fully protect it, and scan hosts for known security issues. By the end of the course, students will have a solid understanding of the security architectures used by NT and Linux.

Target Audience

Network server administrators, firewall administrators, systems administrators, application developers, and IT security officers.

Job Responsibilities

Implement e-business solutions security policies; identify security threats and develop countermeasures using firewall systems and attack recognition technologies; and manage the deployment of security solutions.

Prerequisites

Students must have passed the CIW Foundations, CIW Server Administrator, and CIW Internetworking Professional exams, and have completed the Network Security and Firewalls course or have equivalent skills.

Topics

Security Principles

  • Defining Security
  • Security Evaluation Criteria
  • Security Levels, Mechanisms, and Management
  • Windows NT Security
  • Windows NT Security Architecture
  • Security Architecture

Account Security

  • NT and UNIX Passwords
  • Password Aging
  • Pruning Users and Detecting Account Changes
  • UNIX Password File Format
  • Renaming Accounts
  • Account Policies
  • Logging Unsuccessful Attempts
  • Implementing Security Threats, Restricting and Monitoring Accounts

File System Security

  • NT File-level Permissions
  • Assigning NTFS Permissions
  • Remote File Access Control
  • Assigning and Using Share Permissions
  • Combined Local and Remote Permissions
  • UNIX Filesystem Security Concepts
  • The umask Command
  • UIDs and GIDs
  • Setuid, setgid, and sticky bits

Assessing Risk

  • Security Threats
  • Keyloggers
  • Windows NT Security Risks
  • System Scanning
  • UNIX Security Risks
  • The rlogin Command
  • NIS Security Concerns
  • NFS Security Concerns

Reducing Risk

  • Patches and Fixes
  • Registry Security
  • Disabling and Removing Unnecessary Services in Windows NT and UNIX
  • TCP Wrapper
  • Message Digest 5 (MD5)
  • Logging in Windows NT

Security Configuration Manager (Appendix)

  • Solutions Presented in Security Configuration Manager

Internet Security Resources (Appendix)

  • General, UNIX and Windows NT Resources