Diligently maintain your firewall and antivirus software

Diligently maintain your firewall and antivirus software:
“The most tempting target for a veteran cracker is a developer’s network because beating top programmers puts a feather in their hat. While a server that contains unencrypted personal financial records is a favorite mark for crooks out to make money, some of the most skilled crackers still see breaking other people’s work as a fun game. For them, penetrating a development platform is the best way to find confidential code, plant a back door, or prove their chops by showing what they can do.…

Developer networks are often the least secure in the company because these networks must be open enough to share code easily, have actual code rather than just complied programs, and frequently contain older versions of protocols and software. It's essential to have a firewall between the network and the rest of the company, as well as between the developer network and the Internet (unless under the rare circumstances in which the workgroup is all located in one office and uses a dedicated network without any outside access).

Developer networks also tend to get the least security maintenance. Programmers are so busy, and management may think that since the programmers are experts their network doesn’t need special attention. Developers are likely doing the most time-sensitive, mission-critical jobs in the company, and no one wants to be blamed for shutting down a network by applying a patch that doesn’t work right or by kicking all the users off for routine maintenance.

If security software was perfect, you could lock down the developer network with a solid firewall and good antivirus software. After all, programmers are far less likely to browse the Web or open e-mail attachments from strangers than most office workers, and those two occurrences are the prime causes of security problems.…”

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