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Security v. Privacy (was Re: Is there anything thatactuallygets users to fix their computers?)

  • From: Jamie Reid
  • Date: Sun Oct 05 18:13:13 2003

While we were fighting blaster/nachi and others, we relied heavily on IDS's to generate
alerts for the worms, then we disabled their network access and called them.  Generic 
viruses are not an ISP's problem, but a worm is something that affects the prviders
infrastructure, and is therefore a network operators business. 

Privacy is not an issue in this case as there is a policy being monitored by a policy
monitoring tool, and enforced on a per-violation basis. It wasn't a fishing expedition 
that could assess the users configuration or usage, it was monitoring our network. 

There is no generalized way, without management access to the customers machine
(via SMS or citrix or something), to check that the machine is in compliance with a 
network policy. An IDS can tell you if it violates policy, and you can act as your
security procedures dictate. 
 


--
Jamie.Reid, CISSP, [email protected]
Senior Security Specialist, Information Protection Centre 
Corporate Security, MBS  
416 327 2324 

>>> "Sean Donelan" [email protected]> 10/05/03 04:49pm >>

[...]

So from an ISPs point of view, is there a way for the ISP to quickly
tell the customer if the particular computer is fixed without unduly
intruding on the privacy of the customer?  With home networks, there
may be multiple computers behind a NAT/router/firewall.  So a simple
network scan doesn't always work.
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<DIV>&nbsp;</DIV>
<DIV>While we were fighting blaster/nachi and others, we relied heavily on IDS's 
to generate</DIV>
<DIV>alerts for the worms, then we disabled their network access and called 
them.&nbsp; Generic </DIV>
<DIV>viruses are not an ISP's problem, but a worm is something that affects the 
prviders</DIV>
<DIV>infrastructure, and is therefore&nbsp;a network operators&nbsp;business. 
</DIV>
<DIV>&nbsp;</DIV>
<DIV>Privacy is not an issue in this case as there is a policy being monitored 
by a policy</DIV>
<DIV>monitoring tool, and enforced on a per-violation basis. It wasn't a fishing 
expedition </DIV>
<DIV>that could assess the users configuration or usage, it was monitoring our 
network. </DIV>
<DIV>&nbsp;</DIV>
<DIV>There is no generalized way, without management access to the customers 
machine</DIV>
<DIV>(via SMS or citrix or something), to check that the machine is in 
compliance with a </DIV>
<DIV>network policy. An IDS can tell you if it violates policy, and you can act 
as your</DIV>
<DIV>security procedures dictate. </DIV>
<DIV>&nbsp;</DIV>
<DIV>&nbsp;</DIV>
<DIV>&nbsp;</DIV>
<DIV>--<BR>Jamie.Reid, CISSP, <A 
href="mailto:[email protected]";>[email protected]</A><BR>Senior 
Security Specialist, Information Protection Centre <BR>Corporate Security, 
MBS&nbsp; <BR>416 327 2324 <BR><BR>&gt;&gt;&gt; "Sean Donelan" <A 
href="mailto:[email protected]> 10/05/03 04:49pm >>">[email protected]&gt; 
10/05/03 04:49pm &gt;&gt;</A><BR><BR>[...]</DIV>
<DIV><BR>So from an ISPs point of view, is there a way for the ISP to 
quickly<BR>tell the customer if the particular computer is fixed without 
unduly<BR>intruding on the privacy of the customer?&nbsp; With home networks, 
there<BR>may be multiple computers behind a NAT/router/firewall.&nbsp; So a 
simple<BR>network scan doesn't always work.<BR></DIV>
<DIV><BR>&nbsp;</DIV></BODY></HTML>