Every user should have their own ID and password.  For 2-3 machines, they
just need to remember to change it on all machines whenever they change it --
 which probably won't be as often as it should be.  For more machines, you
want at least one server as a domain controller (two is better) and so all
password changes apply to the entire domain automatically.
  Enable auditing.  Audit all failure events, and successful logins and
policy changes.  Increase the size of the system, application, and security
logs to about 32K each.  With a network this size, you won't have the
resources to monitor the logs, but they might help you figure out what
happened after something goes wrong.
  Configure the router/gateway/firewall to enable only the traffic you need
to.  Ideally, this would be a short list of client port numbers outbound and
possibly server port numbers inbound, but equipment limitations may force
other choices.  Do not allow NetBIOS/SMB/CIFS ports (135, 137, 139 and 445)
to cross the perimeter.

  I'm sure there's more, but those are some good starting points.

David Gillett


On 6 Feb 2005 at 6:48, Hugh Vandervoort wrote:

> Thanks to this list I now know enough about networks to be dangerous. :)
> I've recently gotten a couple of jobs setting up networks in small offices,
> and, while I have no trouble making things work, I wonder what the standard
> practices are for security and sharing files. I've never had occasion to
> work in such an environment.
> The usual situation is 2 or 3 computers sharing a broadband connection and
> virtually total ignorance on the part of the clients. OS is XP or 2000.
> I've been designating a single shared folder, which simplifies things and
> seems to work. I also install AV and Spyware protection.
>
> What else should I be looking at to do a thorough job?
>
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