Information Security Resources for System Administrators

Security Responsibilities of Systems Administrators

1. Ensure that your servers are properly secured.
2. Ensure that your web applications follow Penn's security standards.
3. Familiarize yourself with all of Penn's information security, networking and privacy policies.
4. Identify, register with Information Security and bring into compliance, any Critical Hosts for which you are responsible.
5. Subscribe to the appropriate Penn security mailing lists.
6. Subscribe to your operating system vendor and application software vendors' security advisories email list.
7. Report all critical security incidents to information security.
   

Alerts & Advisories

• CERT: The CERT Coordination Center (at Carnegie Mellon) has up-to-date security alerts, as well as general security advice and research resources
• SANS: Internet Storm Center™monitoring and reporting on global internet traffic
• Microsoft: Security Bulletins from MS TechNet
• Apple: Security updates from AppleCare's KnowledgeBase
• Linux: Advisories and information from LinuxSecurity
• Virus alerts from Penn's virus information center

Security Guides & Checklists

• In recent years Penn Information Security has provided site-licensed copies of the "Step-By-Step" Guides from the SANS Institute for securing the major operating systems, however, we no longer are licensing them. In their place we are recommending that support providers and system administrators make use of the excellent tools and checklists (most of them free) available from the Center for Internet Security at their website: www.cisecurity.org.

  Even though the SANS Step-By-Step Guides are no longer available at Penn, the SANS website www.sans.org remains an excellent source of information, white papers, etc.
• Web Security Standards: Things to consider in order to limit the risks associated with using web-based applications for sensitive data
• Selling/Donating Old Computers: How to prevent private or sensitive information from accidentally being given to the recipients of donated or discarded equipment.

Last updated: Friday, July 13, 2007