342 (8) Security professional hired by NextGard Technologies

You are a Security professional hired by NextGard Technologies in Phoenix, AZ to provide a Windows security implementation model for their organization. NextGard specializes in network consulting services for US companies and they want to upgrade and secure their current network.

NextGard has 250,000 employees in 5 countries. The Phoenix office operates as the NextGard Corporate headquarters. Currently there are five district offices:

            • Atlanta, Georgia 

            • Bangalore, India

            • Los Angeles, California 

            • Montreal, Canada 

            • New York City, New York 

The district offices have satellite employees that have a combination of desktops, mobile computers and wireless devices. There is a mix of computers running Windows 2000, XP, Windows Vista and Windows 7. There is a Windows Active Directory forest with domains set up for each office and seven file and print servers which are located in the Phoenix office. The Phoenix office also contains two proxy servers, configured as an array, that provide Web cache services and Internet access control for the organization since the majority of applications are web-based and hosted from the Phoenix office.

There are also several Microsoft applications that all employees within a region use that are hosted in the regional offices.   All employees have Internet access so they can browse the web.

Tasks (Paper Sections):

For the assigned project, you are to submit a proposal for the management of NextGard.  In the proposal, you must address the following:

1. Research solutions and detail the appropriate Microsoft Windows access controls including policies, standards and procedures that define who users are, what they can do, which resources they can access, and what operations they can perform on a system.
2. Research and detail the cryptography methods to protect organizational information using techniques that ensure its integrity, confidentiality, authenticity and non-repudiation, and the recovery of encrypted information in its original form.
3. Research and devise a plan to thwart malicious code and activity by implementing countermeasures and prevention techniques for dealing with viruses, worms, logic bombs, Trojan horses and other related forms of intentionally created deviant code.
4. Research and formulate a plan to implement monitoring and analysis by determining system implementation and access as well as an incident response plan for security breaches or events.
5. Research and detail security guidelines for contains the two proxy servers and Internet access control for the organization
6. Research and define best practices for the security of NextGard’s organization.
7. Conclusion summarizing your findings and recommendations for the reader.
8. The Network topology must include all of the sites and the network infrastructure required to provide the services described in the Final Project Scenario in the section above