Network security related business enterprises-stop gap measure to help you protect your network

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Today's business networks consist of numerous remote access connections from employees and outsourcing firms. Too often, the inherent security risks arising from these connections outside the network are overlooked. Continuous improvements have been made that can enhance security in today's network infrastructure; taking particular focus on the users accessing the network externally and monitoring access end- points are critical for businesses to protect their digital assets.

Installing the correct software for the specific needs of your IT infrastructure is essential to having the best security protection possible. Many companies install "off the shelf" security software and assume they are protected. Unfortunately, that is not the case due to the nature of today's network threats. Threats are diverse in nature, including the usual spam, spyware, viruses, trojans, worms, and the occasional possibility that a hacker has targeted your servers.

The proper security solution for your organization will neutralize virtually all of these threats to your network. Too often, with only a software package installed, network administrators spend a lot of their time at the perimeter of the network defending its integrity by manually fending off attacks and then manually patching the security breach.

Paying network administrators to defend the integrity of your network is an expensive proposition - much more so than installing the proper security solution that your network requires. Network administrators have many other responsibilities that need their attention. Part of their job is to make your business operate more efficiently - they can't focus on this if they have to manually defend the network infrastructure all the time.

Another threat that must be considered is the threat occurring from within the perimeter, in other words, an employee. Sensitive proprietary information is most often stolen by someone on the payroll. A proper network security solution must guard against these kinds of attacks also. Network administrators definitely have their role in this area by creating security policies and strictly enforcing them.

A smart strategy to give your network the protection it needs against the various security threats is a layered security approach. Layered security is a customized approach to your network's specific requirements utilizing both hardware and software solutions. Once the hardware and software is working simultaneously to protect your company, both are able to instantaneously update their capabilities to handle the latest in security threats.

Security software can be configured to update multiple times a day if the need be; hardware updates usually consist of firmware upgrades and an update wizard much like that present within the software application.

All-in-one Security Suites A multi-pronged strategy should be implemented to combat the multiple sources of security threats in today's corporate networks. Too often, the sources of these threats are overlapping with Trojans arriving in spam or spyware hidden within a software installation. Combating these threats requires the use of firewalls, anti-spyware, malware and anti-spam protection.

Recently, the trend in the software industry has been to combine these previously separate security applications into an all-encompassing security suite. Security applications standard on corporate networks are integrating into security suites that focus on a common goal. These security suites contain antivirus, anti-spyware, anti-spam, and firewall protection all packaged together in one application. Searching out the best stand-alone applications in each security risk category is still an option, but no longer a necessity.

The all-in-one security suite will save a company money in reduced software purchasing costs and time with the ease of integrated management of the various threat sources.

Trusted Platform Module (TPM) A TPM is a standard developed by the Trusted Computing Group defining hardware specifications that generate encryption keys. TPM chips not only guard against intrusion attempts and software attacks but also physical theft of the device containing the chip. TPM chips work as a compliment to user authentication to enhance the authentication process.

Authentication describes all processes involved in determining whether a user granted access to the corporate network is, in fact, who that user claims to be. Authentication is most often granted through use of a password, but other techniques involve biometrics that uniquely identify a user by identifying a unique trait no other person has such as a fingerprint or characteristics of the eye cornea.

Today, TPM chips are often integrated into standard desktop and laptop motherboards. Intel began integrating TPM chips into its motherboards in 2003, as did other motherboard manufactures. Whether or not a motherboard has this chip will be contained within the specifications of that motherboard.

These chips encrypt data on the local level, providing enhanced security at a remote location such as the WiFi hotspot full of innocent looking computer-users who may be bored hackers with malicious intent. Microsoft's Ultimate and Enterprise versions of the Vista Operating System utilize this technology within the BitLocker Drive Encryption feature.

While Vista does provide support for TPM technology, the chips are not dependent upon any platform to function.

TPM has the same functionality on Linux as it does within the Windows operating system. There are even specifications from Trusted Computing Group for mobile devices such as PDAs and cell phones.

To use TPM enhanced security, network users only need to download the security policy to their desktop machine and run a setup wizard that will create a set of encryption keys for that computer. Following these simple steps significantly improves security for the remote computer user.

Admission Based on User Identity Establishing a user's identity depends upon successfully passing the authentication processes. As previously mentioned user authentication can involve much more than a user name and password. Besides the emerging biometrics technology for user authentication, smart cards and security tokens are another method that enhances the user name/password authentication process.

The use of smart cards or security tokens adds a hardware layer requirement to the authentication process. This creates a two-tier security requirement, one a secret password and the other a hardware requirement that the secure system must recognize before granting access.

Tokens and smart cards operate in essentially the same fashion but have a different appearance. Tokens take on the appearance of a flash drive and connection through a USB port while smart cards require special hardware, a smart card reader, that connects to the desktop or laptop computer. Smart cards often take on the appearance of an identification badge and may contain a photo of the employee.

However authentication is verified, once this happens a user should be granted access through a secure virtual network (VLAN) connection. A VLAN establishes connections to the remote user as if that person was a part of the internal network and allows for all VLAN users to be grouped together within distinct security policies.

Remote users connecting through a VLAN should only have access to essential network resources and how those resources can be copied or modified should be carefully monitored.

Specifications established by the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) have resulted in what is known as the secure VLAN (S-VLAN) architecture. Also commonly referred to as tag-based VLAN, the standard is known as 802.1q. It enhances VLAN security by adding an extra tag within media access control (MAC) addresses that identify network adapter hardware within a network. This method will prevent unidentified MAC addresses from accessing the network.

Network Segmentation This concept, working hand-in-hand with VLAN connections, determines what resources a user can access remotely using policy enforcement points (PEPs) to enforce the security policy throughout the network segments. Furthermore, the VLAN, or S-VLAN, can be treated as a separate segment with its own PEP requirements.

PEP works with a user's authentication to enforce the network security policy. All users connecting to the network must be guaranteed by the PEP that they meet the security policy requirements contained within the PEP. The PEP determines what network resources a user can access, and how these resources can be modified.

The PEP for VLAN connections should be enhanced from what the same user can do with the resources internally. This can be accomplished through network segmentation simply be defining the VLAN connections as a separate segment and enforcing a uniform security policy across that segment. Defining a policy in this manner can also define what internal network segments the client can access from a remote location.

Keeping VLAN connections as a separate segment also isolates security breaches to that segment if one were to occur. This keeps the security breach from spreading throughout the corporate network. Enhancing network security even further, a VLAN segment could be handled by it's own virtualized environment, thus isolating all remote connections within the corporate network.

Centralized Security Policy Management Technology hardware and software targeting the different facets of security threats create multiple software platforms that all must be separately managed. If done incorrectly, this can create a daunting task for network administration and can increase staffing costs due to the increased time requirements to manage the technologies (whether they be hardware and/or software).

Integrated security software suites centralize the security policy by combining all security threat attacks into one application, thus requiring only one management console for administration purposes.

Depending on the type of business you're in a security policy should be used corporate-wide that is all-encompassing for the entire network. Administrators and management can define the security policy separately, but one overriding definition of the policy needs to be maintained so that it is uniform across the corporate network. This ensures there are no other security procedures working against the centralized policy and limiting what the policy was defined to implement.

Not only does a centralized security policy become easier to manage, but it also reduces strain on network resources. Multiple security policies defined by different applications focusing on one security threat can aggregately hog much more bandwidth than a centralized security policy contained within an all-encompassing security suite. With all the threats coming from the Web, ease of management and application is essential to maintaining any corporate security policy.

Frequently asked Questions:

1. I trust my employees. Why should I enhance network security?

Even the most trusted employees can pose a risk of a network security breach. It is important that employees follow established company security standards. Enhancing security will guard against lapsing employees and the occasional disgruntled employee seeking to cause damage to the network.

2. Do these innovations really create a secure environment for remote access?

Yes they do. These enhancements not only greatly enhance a secure VLAN connection but they also use widely accepted standards that are often integrated into common hardware and software. It's there, your company only needs to start using the technology.

3. My company is happy with using separate software, that way each application can focus on a separate security threat. Why should I consider an all-in-one security suite?

Many of the popular software applications commonly used by businesses have expanded their focus to identify all security threats. This includes solutions from both software and hardware appliance technology manufacturers. Many of these firms saw the need to consolidate security early on and purchased smaller software firms to gain that knowledge their firm was lacking. A security suite at the application level, will make management much easier and your IT staff will thank you for it.

4. Do I need to add a hardware requirement to the authentication process?

Requiring the use of security tokens or smart cards should be considered for employees accessing the company network from a remote site. Particularly if that employee needs to access sensitive company information while on the road, a simple flash drive secure token prevents a thief from accessing that sensitive data on a stolen laptop.

5. With all this concern about WiFi hotspots should employees be required not to use these locations to connect to the company network?

WiFi hotspots have sprung up nationwide and present the easiest method for your remote employees to access the Internet. Unfortunately, hotspots can also be full of bored, unemployed hackers who have nothing better to do than find a way to intercept a busy employee's transmissions at the next table. That's not to say employees on the road should avoid hotspots. That would severely limit them from accessing the network at all. With technologies like S-VLAN and secure authentication in place, a business can implement technologies to reduce threats both now and in the future.

Implementing the latest network security technologies is a high priority for IT Management. In today's network environment with many users accessing your digital assets remotely, it's critical to get your network security correct during the planning phase of the integration process.

Obviously, it should be noted that most large companies have multiple operating systems running (Windows, Mac O/S, etc) and that for many of these companies all-in-one security suites face certain challenges in a mixed operating system environment.

That is why I stress that you consider having layered security (both hardware and software) and don't simply rely on software applications to protect your digital assets. As technology changes so do the opportunities for security breaches.

As these security threats become more sophisticated, hardware and software developers will continue to innovate and it's essential businesses keep up with, and implement these technologies.

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Network Security 101

As more people are accessing the Internet every day, Network security becomes a larger issue. In the United States, identity theft and computer fraud are among the fastest growing crimes. It is important to protect your network and ensure the security of all computers and users in network.

What is the network?

To fully understand network security, one must first understand what exactly the network. Network represents a group of computers that are connected. Computers can be connected in different ways. Some of these methods fall into a USB port, telephone lines, connection via Ethernet or wireless connection. Internet network network sec.Your Internet service provider (ISP) also constitutes a network.When a computer connects to the Internet, he joined his network which connects with a host of other network s connected to the even more network s and so on all these network s cover Internet. huge amount of computers on the Internet and the number of providers and the General network s makes network security.

Total network security breeches

Hackers often attempt to break into vulnerable network, s. hackers use a variety of attacks to cripple the network. Do you have a home network or network, it is important to know how hackers will attack in network.

One common way for a hacker to wreak havoc — access to things that ordinary users should not have access to in any network, administrators are able to make some part network "unauthorized access". If a hacker can gain access to a protected area in network, he or she can affect all computers in the network. Some hackers are trying to break into a network s and release the viruses that affect all computers in the network.Some hackers as you can see the information that they should not see.

Destructive attacks

There are two main categories for destructive attacks network.Data Diddling is the first attack she usually not obvious that something is wrong with your computer, where he was allegedly diddler. data changes usually Diddlers rooms or multiple files, and the damage is much later.After tracing the problem can be really hard to trust any of your previous data because the culprit can potentially confusing to a lot of different instruments.

The second type of wipe is complete removal.Some hackers will just break into your computer and delete the files.This will inevitably cause problems for any business, and can even lead to a computer is useless.Hackers can rip operating systems from each other and awful problems network or computer.

Value network security

Knowing how destructive hacker might display network security most network s have enabled a firewall blocks hackers and viruses with virus protection software on all computers in the network is mandatory in network all computers are connected, so if a computer has a virus, other computers can be adversely affected by the same virus. any administrator network should have all the core files on the backup drive. If the file is deleted, hacker, but there is a backup, there is no where files will be lost forever, trouble the network is an important thing for businesses and homes. hackers are trying to make life difficult, but if you are ready for them, your network will be safe.

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Network security-the road ahead

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Network Security - The road ahead

Introduction
What is Network Security?
"Network
Security" -Monitoring



"Network Security" -Forensics
"Network Security" -Compliance


HIPAA


SOX
GLBA



Conclusion


Introduction

Network Security is the next wave which is bound to sweep the software

market. Increase in offshore projects and transfer of information

across the wire has added fuel to the burning urge to secure the

network. As the famous adage goes, the most safest computer is

one which has been unplugged from the network(making it almost

useless). Network security

is becoming more of a necessity. Interestingly the type of security

required across different enterprises depends on the nature of its

business. Offlate some laws & acts have been defined to

identify security breaches, which is a very good move to prevent

fradulent use/access of information. There are two types of softwares

for Network security, one which prevents it and one which does the

forensic analysis. The main focus of this article would be

the forensics of network security.

What is Network Security?

network security: the

protection of a computer network and its services from unauthorized

modification, destruction, or

disclosure

Network security is a self-contradicting philosophy where you need to

give absolute access and at the same time provide absolute security.

Any enterprise needs to secure itself from two different access of

information/transaction for that matter(ex:ftp,http etc.), internal

access and external access. Securing the access of information or

resources from the external world(WWW) is quite a task to master, that

is where the firewalls pitch in. The firewalls act as gatekeepers who

seggregate the intrusive and non-intrusive requests and allow access.

Configuring & maintaining a firewall is by itself a task which

needs experience and knowledge. There are no hard and fast rules

to instruct the firewalls, it depends on where the firewall is

installed and how the enterprise intends to provide access to

information/resources. So, the effectivity of any firewall depends on

how well or how bad you configure it. Please be informed many firewalls

come with pre-configured rules, which intend to make the job of

securing the information access from external sources. In short

firewall gives you information about attacks happenning from the

external world.

The toughest job is to secure information from the internal sources.

More than securing it, managers need to track the information flow, to

identify possible casuatives. The tracking of information flow will

come in handy in case of legal situations. Because what seemingly to be

a sharing of information could be held against you in the court of

law. To enforce this, acts such as HIPAA, GLBA, SOX have been

putforth, to ensure that the scam(s) like that of "Enron" does

not happen. In short the tracking of information and audit gives you

information abouot security breaches and possible internal attacks.

There are a variety of network security attacks/ breaches:

Denial of Service
Virus attacks
Unauthorized Access
Confidentiality breaches
Destruction of information
Data manipulation

Interestingly , all these information are available across the

enterprise in the form of log files. But to read it through

and making sense out of it, will take a life time. That is where the

"Network Security" monitoring also known as "Log Monitoring" softwares

pitch in. They do a beautiful

job of making sense out of the information spread across various

locations and offer the system administrators a holistic view of what

is happening in their network, in terms of Network Security. In short they

collect,collate,analyze & produce reports which help the

system administrator to keep tabs on Network Security.

"Network Security" -Monitoring

No matter how fine your defense systems are, you need to have someone

to make sense out of the huge amount of data churned out of a edge

device like firewall and the system logs. The typical enterprise logs

about 2-3GB/day depending upon the enterprise the size might vary. The

main goal of the forensic software is to mine through the vast amount

of information and pull out events that need attention. The

"Network security" softwares play a major role in identifying the

causatives and security breaches that are happenning in the

enterprise.

Some of the major areas that needed to be addressed by any network

security product is to provide a collective virus attacks across

different edge devices in the network. What this offers for an

enterprise is a holistic view, of the attacks happening across the

enterprise. It offers a detailed overview of the bandwidth

usage, it should also provide user based access reports. The

product has to highlight sescurity breaches and misuse of internet

access, this will enable the administrator to take the necessary

steps. The edge devices monitoring product has to provide other

stuffs like Traffic trends,insight into capacity planning and Live

traffic monitoring, which will help the administrator to find causes

for network congestion.

The internal monitoring product has to offer the audit information of

users, system security breaches and activity audit trails (ex: remote

access) As most of the administrators are ignorant of the requirements

for the

compliance acts, it is better to cross reference which acts apply to

their enterprise and ensure that the product supports reporting for the

compliance acts(please refer here

for details on compliance)

In altoghether they will have to support archiving, scheduling of

reports and a comprehensive list of reports. please follow the next

section for more details.

"Network Security" -Forensics

The most important features you need to

lookout,when you short list a network security forensic product is the

ability

to archive the raw records. This is a major factor when it comes to

acts and laws. So in the court of law, the original record has to be

produced as proof and not the custom format of the vendor. The

next one to lookout for is the ability to create alerts, i.e the

ability to notify whenever some criteria happens ex: when 3

unsuccessfull login attempts mail me kind of stuff, or better still if

there is a virus attack for from the same host more than once, notify

me etc. This will reduce the lot of manual intervention needed in

keeping the network secure. Moreover the ability to schedule

reports is a big plus. You don't have to check the reports daily. Once

you have done your ground work as to configure some basic alerts and

some scheduled reports. It should be a cakewalk from then on. All

you need to do is check out the information(alerts/reports) you get in

your inbox. It is recommended that you configure reports on a weekly

basis. So that it is never too late to react to a potential threat.

And finally a comprehensive list of reports is a vital feature to

lookout for. Here is a list of reports that might come in handy

for any enterprise:

Reports to expect from edge devices such as a firewall:

Live monitoring
Security reports
Virus reports
Attack reports
Traffic reports
Protocol usage reports
Web usage reports
Mail usage reports
FTP usage reports
Telnet usage reports
VPN reports
Inbound/Outbound traffic reports
Intranet reports
Internet reports
Trend reports

Reports to expect from compliance and internal monitoring:

( see compliance sub-heading for reports on compliance)

User Audit reports (successfull/unsuccessful login attempts)
Audit policy changes (ex: change in privileges etc)
Password changes
Account Lockout
User account changes
IIS reports
DHCP reports
MSI reports( lists the products installed/uninstalled)
Group policy changes
RPC reports
DNS reports
Active directory reports


The gating factor for choosing a monitoring product is to cross verify

whether the devices you have in your network are supported by the

vendor you choose. There are quite a number of products which

address this market, you might want to search for "firewall analyzer"

and "eventlog analyzer" in google.

"Network Security" -Compliance

Most of the industries such as health care and financial

institutions are mandated to be compliant with HIPAA and SOX acts.

These acts enforce stringent rules in all aspects of the enterprise

including the physical access of information. (This section

concetrates on the software requirement of the acts) There are quite a

number of agencies that offer the compliance as a service for an

enterprise. But it all depends on whether you want to handle compliance

yourself or employ a third party vendor to ensure compliance to the

acts.

HIPAA Compliance:

HIPAA defines the Security Standards for monitoring and auditing system

activity. HIPAA regulations mandate analysis of all logs,

including OS

and application logs including both perimeter devices, such as IDSs, as

well as insider activity. Here are some of the important reports that

need to be in place:

User Logon report: HIPAA requirements (164.308 (a)(5) -
log-in/log-out monitoring) clearly state that user accesses to the
system be recorded and monitored for possible abuse. Remember, this
intent is not just to catch hackers but also to document the accesses
to medical details by legitimate users. In most cases, the very fact
that the access is recorded is deterrent enough for malicious activity,
much like the presence of a surveillance camera in a parking lot.
User Logoff report: HIPAA requirements clearly state that user
accesses to the system be recorded and monitored for possible abuse.
Remember, this intent is not just to catch hackers but also to document
the accesses to medical details by legitimate users. In most cases, the
very fact that the access is recorded is deterrent enough for malicious
activity, much like the presence of a surveillance camera in a parking
lot.
Logon Failure report: The security logon feature includes logging
all unsuccessful login attempts. The user name, date and time are
included in this report.
Audit Logs access report: HIPAA requirements (164.308 (a)(3) -
review and audit access logs) calls for procedures to regularly review
records of information system activity such as audit logs.
Security Log Archiving Utility:Periodically, the system
administrator will be able to back up encrypted copies of the log data
and restart the logs.

SOX Compliance:

Sarbanes-Oxlet defines the collection,retention and review of audit

trail log data from all sources under section 404's IT process

controls. These logs form the basis of the internal controls that

provide corporations with the assurance that financial and business

information is factual and accurate. Here are some of the important

reports to look for:

User Logon report:SOX requirements (Sec 302 (a)(4)(C) and (D) -
log-in/log-out monitoring) clearly state that user accesses to the
system be recorded and monitored for possible abuse. Remember, this
intent is not just to catch hackers but also to document the accesses
to medical details by legitimate users. In most cases, the very fact
that the access is recorded is deterrent enough for malicious activity,
much like the presence of a surveillance camera in a parking lot.
User Logoff report:SOX requirements (Sec 302 (a)(4)(C) and (D)
clearly state that user accesses to the system be recorded and
monitored for possible abuse. Remember, this intent is not just to
catch hackers but also to document the accesses to medical details by
legitimate users. In most cases, the very fact that the access is
recorded is deterrent enough for malicious activity, much like the
presence of a surveillance camera in a parking lot.
Logon Failure reportThe security logon feature includes logging
all unsuccessful login attempts. The user name, date and time are
included in this report.
Audit Logs access report:SOX requirements (Sec 302 (a)(4)(C) and
(D) - review and audit access logs) calls for procedures to regularly
review records of information system activity such as audit logs.
Security Log Archiving Utility:Periodically, the system
administrator will be able to back up encrypted copies of the log data
and restart the logs.
Track Account management changes:Significant changes in the
internal controls sec 302 (a)(6). Changes in the security configuration
settings such as adding or removing a user account to a admistrative
group. These changes can be tracked by analyzing event logs.
Track Audit policy changes:Internal controls sec 302 (a)(5) by
tracking the event logs
for any changes in the security audit policy.
Track individual user actions:Internal controls sec 302 (a)(5) by
auditing user activity.
Track application access:Internal controls sec 302 (a)(5) by
tracking application
process.
Track directory / file access:Internal controls sec 302 (a)(5)
for any access violation.

GLBA Compliance:

The Financial Services Modernization Act (FMA99) was signed into law in

January 1999 (PL 106-102). Commonly referred to as the

Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act or GLBA, Title V of the Act governs the steps

that financial institutions and financial service companies must

undertake to ensure the security and confidentiality of customer

information. The Act asserts that financial services companies

routinely collect Non-Public Personal Information (NPI) from

individuals, and must notify those individuals when sharing information

outside of the company (or affiliate structure) and, in some cases,

when using such information in situations not related to the

furtherance of a specific financial transaction.

User Logon report:GLBA Compliance requirements clearly state that
user accesses to the system be recorded and monitored for possible
abuse. Remember, this intent is not just to catch hackers but also to
document the accesses to medical details by legitimate users. In most
cases, the very fact that the access is recorded is deterrent enough
for malicious activity, much like the presence of a surveillance camera
in a parking lot.
User Logoff report:GLBA requirements clearly state that user
accesses to the system be recorded and monitored for possible abuse.
Remember, this intent is not just to catch hackers but also to document
the accesses to medical details by legitimate users. In most cases, the
very fact that the access is recorded is deterrent enough for malicious
activity, much like the presence of a surveillance camera in a parking
lot.
Logon Failure report:The security logon feature includes logging
all unsuccessful login attempts. The user name, date and time are
included in this report.
Audit Logs access report:GLAB requirements (review and audit
access logs) calls for procedures to regularly review records of
information system activity such as audit logs.
Security Log Archiving Utility:Periodically, the system
administrator will be able to back up encrypted copies of the log data
and restart the logs.

Conclusion

"Network Security" has to be done both internally as well as

externally, the job of nailing the problem is a huge task

which needs expertise and mostly help from softwares such as EventLog Analyzers(compliance and internal monitoring of internal machines) and Firewall Analyzer(virus,attacks

and traffic monitoring of edge devices).

Bibliography

http://www.interhack.net/pubs/network-security/

http://www.hipaa.org/

[http://www.sarbanes-oxley.com/]

http://www.senate.gov/~banking/conf/

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Certified specialist for security applications in the description

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Last year Rich Mogull and Jeremiah Grossman created a little know certification, the Certified Application Security Specialist or Certified ASS.  To those in the know, or with the intelligence of the average house pet, it should be immediately obvious that this was an April Fool’s joke.  Funny, and it’s been a continuing joke through out the community, but apparently someone took it seriously enough to actually include it in a job description recently on Craigslist.  And strangely enough, the link I had now leads to the scam page on Craigslist.  Luckily I had the foresight to grab a copy of the post before it disappeared.  What were these people thinking?  Don’t they know they’re supposed to save this sort of stuff for the beginning of April?  The full job description after the page break.

We have an immediate opening for a junior application security specialist (ASS) to join our growing consulting company. This permanent, full-time position is a great opportunity for someone with strong web application development skills that would like to move into the interesting and fun field of application security. This is a highly technical hands-on role that will utilize your web application development skills but involves little coding.

We will provide the right candidate with on-the-job training. The goal will be to quickly teach you how to perform detailed web application security assessments (black-box) and penetration tests by pairing you up with seasoned consultants. We have plenty of interesting projects to work on, including a wide variety of web applications (financial, e-commerce, gaming, etc.) and web services. Longer-term, we will train you to perform security code reviews.

This is an opportunity for a team player who would like to move into a new and exciting field, is ready to get started quickly, and is eager to learn some new skills and have fun while doing so.

We have an immediate opening for a junior application security specialist (ASS) to join our growing consulting company. This permanent, full-time position is a great opportunity for someone with strong web application development skills that would like to move into the interesting and fun field of application security. This is a highly technical hands-on role that will utilize your web application development skills but involves little coding.

We will provide the right candidate with on-the-job training. The goal will be to quickly teach you how to perform detailed web application security assessments (black-box) and penetration tests by pairing you up with seasoned consultants. We have plenty of interesting projects to work on, including a wide variety of web applications (financial, e-commerce, gaming, etc.) and web services. Longer-term, we will train you to perform security code reviews.

This is an opportunity for a team player who would like to move into a new and exciting field, is ready to get started quickly, and is eager to learn some new skills and have fun while doing so.

Primary Job Duties
• Conducting web application security assessments and penetration tests. These are very systematic assessments which are done using our proprietary methodology, which we will train you on. The assessments involve manual testing and analysis as well as the use of automated web application vulnerability scanning/testing tools.
• Performing source code reviews using automated tools such as Fortify or AppScan Source Edition (Ounce) and/or manual analysis.
• Writing a formal security assessment report for each application, using our company’s standard reporting format.
• Participating in conference calls with clients to review your assessment results and consult with the clients on remediation options.
• Retesting security vulnerabilities that have been fixed and republishing your report to indicate the results of your retesting.
• Participating in conference calls with potential clients to scope out newly requested security projects and estimate the amount of time required to complete the project.

Work Location
Our company is headquartered in San Jose, California. The majority of work will either be done from either our corporate office or will involve driving to client locations throughout the Bay Area. Some of the work will involve travel.

Technical Skills
• Several years of experience developing web applications, preferably hard-core financial, e-commerce, or business applications that face the Internet. (required)
• Knowledge of the HTTP protocol and how it works.
• Experience performing web application security testing and using vulnerability testing tools. (preferred, but we will train the right person)
• Experience with web application firewalls (preferred, but we will train the right candidate)
• Experience with network-level penetration testing (nice to have, but not necessary)

Soft Skills
• Solid written and verbal communication skills.
• Willingness to do hands-on, highly technical work.
• Strong customer focus. The goal should be to make customers happy enough that they ask for you to be sent back to do more work for them.
• Desire to learn new things and become a participant in the local information security community.
• Honesty and integrity.

Other Requirements
• Must undergo criminal background check and drug testing.
• Flexibility to work odd hours at times. For the most part this is a Monday-Friday 8:00 to 5:00 job, but sometimes customers require us to do certain work during weekends or off-hours.

Job Benefits
• Competitive salary including performance incentives
• Reasonable work hours compared with most information consulting firms. We expect employees to work hard and produce results, but we also understand that our employees have a life outside of work and are not a 60 hour per week body shop.
• Company sponsored medical and dental insurance
• Company sponsored training programs and career growth opportunities
• Company sponsored industry certifications necessary for your position (such as CISSP, CEH, etc.).
• You’ll be part of a closely-knit team of dedicated employees.
• Your choice of beer (at the end of the workday)

If you think you’re the right person for this challenging and fun career opportunity, please reply with your resume.

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Makes the network marketing offer people a real chance to create financial security and independence

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This unique business has millions of distributors doing billions of pounds in sales annually. It is conducted in nearly 100 countries around the world. It has been praised by leading business people and also by heads of state for boosting the economy. Yet most people in the UK are still totally confused by it.
Network marketing has created many millionaires and spread that excitement to millions more, but just what are the realities of this business?

So what is network marketing?
Network Marketing is based on the concept of 'networking'. We all have a circle of people we know through the circumstances of our daily lives and each of these people will have their own circle of acquaintances, colleagues, family and friends. Network Marketing involves tapping into these networks not only to sell product but also to offer the business opportunity to potential new distributors who then start the process of developing their own networks for selling and recruiting.
In network marketing, services and products are distributed to the final consumers through a network of independently contracted distributors or agents (also known as consultants). These distributors are then financially rewarded in two ways: a) from commissions and overrides from sales generation and b) for their contribution to the building up of the network by getting new 'recruits' to be downline distributors. The network marketing business model works because of the price differential that is generated from the distributor to the consumer. If the recruits of the one you recruited generate sales, you get a percentage of the price differential for the sales, and so on.
Network marketing is usually associated with pyramid or ponzi scams. This is because the main structure of the two models can be quite similar at first glance. However, if one takes a closer look at the models, there is one big and defining difference between them. The main difference between a legal network marketing firm and a pyramid scam is that the first one offers real products and services, the latter only promises opportunities and generates money from the cost of entry of the recruited members. A pyramid scam re-channels the incoming funds from the fees that newly recruited 'members' pays for entering the scheme and does not generate any kind of profits from other endeavors. The masterminds of the scam benefits while leaving most, if not all, of the downlines in financial burdens.
o As the networks widen, so the individual leader benefits not only from their own sales but also a percentage of the sales from their network. As more people join the network, so residual income increases.

o network marketing allows its distributors not only to network outwards in order to sell the product but also to benefit from their downline's downline, either to a limited depth or ad infinitum. However, the two terms tend to be used fairly indiscriminately.

o As with any other home-based business, distributors need to work hard and have courage and determination. Finding a good sponsor is just as important as finding an interesting product and a good compensation plan which offers flexibility and just reward for effort. Contrary to expectation, the newcomer has the same potential for success as the long-term sponsor provided that the necessary research and skills training takes place. It is not necessary to be 'in at the beginning' and in some cases it may prove more difficult and risky to join at the beginning than to join a plan which has reached a more mature phase. Network Marketing is particularly suited to married women with family commitments as it offers them an opportunity to start a business on a part time basis with very little capital. The opportunity now exists for enterprising women to use their talents and the skills gained from motherhood to build businesses based both on selling and on finding and supporting the efforts of others.
There are 2 trends that are driving this industry forward:

a. General shift towards self-employment.

b. People's quest for a better lifestyle - They no longer want to work 40 or 50 hours a week just to pay bills.
For many people Network Marketing is the only way to Create Financial Freedom in the UK today.
One business magazine wrote "Network marketing is so far ahead of the competition when it comes to money and lifestyle that is in a league of its own."
With a traditional career you only get paid for the hours that you work. When you leave your employment your monthly salary stops and all you are left with is experience and perhaps a pension, which is rarely enough to live on. Network marketing is entirely different - Your efforts are multiplied by helping people succeed with their businesses, so that your investment comes back many times over, to create time and financial freedom. The longer you work at it, the easier it becomes. The more you help others become successful, the more successful you become.
"Network marketing offers people an opportunity to build a business of their own, with a small amount of capital, in their own time and with the help of a sponsor who is willing to help them every step of the way". Prime Time Magazine
As you leverage your efforts you create a 'residual income' - by helping enough people become successful. Over time, you can build a truly passive income that keeps paying you long after you have done the work.
Network marketing offers people an opportunity to build a business of their own, with a small amount of capital, in their own time and with the help of a sponsor who is willing to help them every step of the way". Prime Time Magazine
As you leverage your efforts you create a 'residual income' - by helping enough people become successful. Over time, you can build a truly passive income that keeps paying you long after you have done the work.
Consider this-

According to a study conducted in the USA in 1995, 'Out of 100 people who are working at age 25, by the age of 65...
o 63% are dependent on Social Security, friends or relatives

o 29% are dead

o 3% are still working

o 4% have adequate capital for retirement

o 1% are wealthy
Questions normally asked about Network Marketing .
Q.Can Network Marketing be done successfully part-time?
A. Absolutely...it's very common in fact. You can start your Network Marketing business on a part-time basis without giving up your current source of income until your Network Marketing business is generating the income you require. And the best part is that you can continue to operate indefinitely on a part-time basis. What would you do if you were financially independent and most of your time was free to do with as you pleased? This is why so many people are flocking to Network Marketing. And that's why we say that Network Marketing puts the freedom back in free enterprise!
Q. Do I have to sell products door-to-door or hold parties or meetings?
A. No. One of the greatest features of Network Marketing is that success can be achieved using a wide variety of methods. You choose the methods that YOU are comfortable with. Within Tiscali we use amazing internet technologies . No delivering products, no collecting money, no party plan meetings!
Q. Isn't Network Marketing one of those pyramid schemes?
A. Definitely not. Though Network Marketing and pyramid schemes do share some similarities, there's a very important difference that makes the latter illegal.You see, in pyramid schemes, income is generated solely on the process of recruiting others into the pyramid. Sometimes a product or service of questionable value is involved(that is never retailed to the general public by the way), but generally what you're buying is the right to recruit others into the scheme. This is illegal. Also, in pyramid schemes, those who get in first and who are at the top win, while everybody else loses. In a legitimate Network Marketing company, on the other hand, distributors are paid only on product movement; not on recruiting. Both at wholesale and retail. There's also compensation based on the training and managing of your marketing team. And unlike illegal pyramids, in Network Marketing, no matter where you're positioned or when you join, you can advance to the very highest income levels and even make more money than those above you in the network.
Q. I'm not a salesperson, so this probably isn't for me.
A. Actually, studies have shown that people with no sales experience do great in Network Marketing. In fact, the studies show that they often do better than those with previous sales experience. This is because Network Marketing isn't about selling; at least not in the way most people think of selling. There's no place for arm-twisting or high-pressure techniques in Network Marketing. Rather, Network Marketing is simply about sharing the concepts and products of your Network Marketing company that you use and you're excited about.
Q. How much money can I make?
A. The bottom line is you'll get out of it what you put into it. It works...if you do. But that's the beauty of it, too; you are in control; it's up to you how far you take it. And don't forget, the income you create in Network Marketing is residual. This basically means that for the work you do just today, you have the potential to earn money not only for today but for years to come.
Q. What's so important about sponsoring in this business anyway?
A. It's like this... it doesn't matter how intelligent, rich, energetic, or dynamic you are;we are all limited to the same 24 hours a day. By sponsoring, however, you can overcome this limitation. By sponsoring, you can virtually clone yourself and have dozens, hundreds, even thousands of people all working indirectly on your behalf on their time and receive a cut of everything they do. Sponsoring also builds your security in this business. Why? In most traditional businesses, what happens if you become ill or disabled and are unable to service your customers? Or perhaps you just want to take a nice long vacation? Whatever the case, you could lose most if not all of your income overnight because it relies on you being there. That's not owning your own life and that's certainly not financial freedom.Through the process of sponsoring and building a downline in Network Marketing, however, you can create total financial freedom for yourself. With a downline of independent business people working for you, you no longer have all your eggs in one basket. On the contrary, because each person in your downline has a vested interest in continuing and building their own businesses, you create an income that is non-dependent upon you - an income that can continue, even grow, indefinitely with or WITHOUT you.
Q. Do I have to stock and deliver products?
A. Most Network Marketing companies today allow its distributors (and often even retail customers) to order direct from the company. The company simultaneously tracks your commissions, credits your account, and automatically sends you a check for the total amount due.
Q. Isn't Network Marketing just another "get-rich-quick" scheme?
A. No, "get-rich-quick" is a fairy tale. It just doesn't happen in the real world. Sure, there are a few exceptions, but they're extremely rare. In fact, if overnight riches is your dream, your odds are probably better playing your state lottery than doing it in business - any business.
Q. I couldn't get involved in Network Marketing. It's not a "real" business.
A. It's very real. Network Marketing is now a multi-billion dollar industry involving millions of independent business people and major U.S. corporations like Colgate-Palmolive, Gillette, Sprint, and MCI, just to name a few. And it's a rapidly-growing international force, too, with thousands of Network Marketing companies already in operation in Canada, Mexico, Europe, Japan, Australia, New Zealand, and the Pacific Basin.
Q. If Network Marketing is so great, why aren't more people involved?
A. That can be summed up in one word: misconceptions. The general public just doesn't understand what Network Marketing is or its potential. But that's finally starting to change. Right now it's estimated that only about 2% of the U.S. population is involved in Network Marketing. But industry experts predict that that number could climb to 10% by the end of this decade. You can position yourself to take advantage of this trend by getting started in Network Marketing now. The timing is great for getting involved!
Q. What are the costs involved in starting and operating this kind of business?
A. Virtually all Network Marketing companies require you to first purchase some kind of "Starter Kit." This is a one-time cost, and is usually less than $100. In addition, of course, you'll have monthly expenses for office supplies, postage, advertising, etc. A total of £50-£150 pounds per month is probably a realistic expenditure to expect. Anyone can afford this amount of money without jeopardising their current lifestyle while they're trying to build a better one. And here's some more good news - most, if not all of that, is tax deductible.
Q. What if I can't afford to buy extra products.
A. You're not supposed to. Network Marketing companies just want you to replace those products you now buy elsewhere with the equivalent-but-higher-quality products your Network Marketing company manufactures. By doing so, you'll likely save money since you now get to buy at wholesale. Plus, it only makes sense to buy from yourself - to buy from "your own store."
Q. I've tried Network Marketing before and it didn't work for me.
A. Let's say you've just moved into a new city and you decided to go out to eat that evening. Unfortunately, the food at the restaurant you picked turned out to be horrible. But just because of this one bad experience, you surely wouldn't swear off eating at all the other restaurants in the city, would you? Of course not! Network Marketing is no different. There are fair Network Marketing companies, great Network Marketing companies, and, yes, even some bad Network Marketing companies. But Network Marketing works! You just need to link up with the right company and the right opportunity at the right time. See MLM RockStars.
Q. I don't have the cash right now to get involved in Network Marketing.
A. Get it! If a brand new £60,000 Mercedes were offered to you for £1000, would you find the money somehow to buy it? Go and get the money because your own Network Marketing business could be worth a lot more than that Mercedes.
Q. I can see how others have become successful, but I don't think I could do it.
A. People of every age, every background, from every walk of life are making it in Network Marketing today. If you have the desire, you can succeed in Network Marketing.
Q. If I would happen to be sponsored by someone half way across the country, how do I get questions answered? And what about training?
A. Free consultation and assistance from your sponsor, other upline associates(and often the corporate staff of your Network Marketing company) is a phone call away.Faxes, E-Mail, Voice Mail, and other new technologies also provide fast and efficient communications between upline and downline...no matter where they're located. As for long-distance training, this is easily handled through video training CD's, audio taped seminars, books, online computer and telephone conferences, etc.
Q. I just don't have the time to start a Network Marketing business. I've got too many irons in the fire already.
A. That's precisely why you should consider Network Marketing. Besides creating financial freedom, Network Marketing is specifically designed to create personal freedom for you so that you can do all the things in life you really want to do that you don't have the time for now.
Q. Don't you have to get in at the beginning to make any real money? Doesn't saturation eventually occur?
A. That's another big misconception that's been perpetuated by the media for years. The fact is, there has never been any evidence produced that "saturation" occurs in Network Marketing. This very topic was debated in U.S. courts at one time and that was the conclusion by the courts.Secondly, realise that because Network Marketing is still a very young industry, there are hundreds of millions of prospects worldwide who have never even heard of Network Marketing. It will take years to even make a dent in that.But here's the main reason why "saturation" is a myth: Timing. In the U.S. alone, there are tens of thousands of brand new prospects "hatched" every year.Part of that figure is young adults who have only just reached the stage in their lives where they'd consider (and could afford) to start a business. Then there are the thousands who have just experienced a major shift in the direction of their lives because of changes at work, at home, etc. These same people, who just months before could in no way, shape, or form be considered prospects for Network Marketing, NOW are suddenly very open to the proposition. And this is happening constantly. Bottom line: The market is wide open and the potential is enormous.
Finally, Internationally acclaimed business people agree that Network Marketing represents one of the greatest opportunities in the world today.

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