A Digital Certificate in Windows XP - Assignment Example

Case Project Assignments al Affiliation: Project 8 Viewing a Digital Certificate in Windows XP or higher version Summary Report This section presents the involvement of viewing a Digital Certificate in Windows XP or higher version. In this particular simulation, the Windows 7 operating system was used to accomplish this task. The highlighted project requires special permission set by the operating system administrator. The experience and finding of the project are shown below: Experience To aid in emphasizing the experience and understanding of the project there is the use of visual diagrams that showcase the procedural steps taken towards achieving the task. The Console that appears after you run MMC program This above window was used to add the snap-in for the current user-account. The snapshots shown below display the subsequent outputs for the subsequent instructions as stated in the procedural project content. User Account selection Selecting Certificates Viewing Trusted Certificates Viewing Revoked Certificates and Untrusted Certificates Why do I think the certificate has been revoked? This is done in the case there is a possible compromising situation on web servers’ certificates or keys due to vulnerability. For instance, the recent Heartbleed bug made it possible for man in middle attacks and remote hacking. Therefore, some certificates have to be revoked due to their weak signature algorithm. Why do I think the certificate is no longer trusted? Certificates are no longer trusted in the case the certificate is outdated or maybe the source of the information is unknown and cannot be identified by the end user browser. Exiting the Console Conclusive Findings Conclusively, using the digital certificate windows console viewer is quite easy to understand and navigate to aid in better inspecting of certificate sources within an interconnected network. This feature has enabled end users to closely monitor and keep track of information sources via ensuring they are from trusted parties. Project 8-2: Creating an Adobe Acrobat Personal Digital Certificate. The project entailed performing the following instructions as stated in the task details. In this particular section, Adobe Acrobat version 8.0 was used given that the version 6.0 and 7.0 has been rendered obsolete for higher versions of windows. The snapshots below showcase the procedure: Configuration on Microsoft Word The procedure requires saving the file in a PDF version that is later opened by the adobe acrobat software. Once this is done the subsequent procedures are showcased below to aid in the creation of a digital certificate key. Selection Console for Creating Digital Key Select where to store your Digital Key Console for filling in Details Console for filling in Details Console for exporting data and saving certificate locally Experience and Findings: The course of generating a personal digital certificate is relatively simple given the instructive procedure displayed in the coursework assignment. Adobe Acrobat 8.0 pro avails the features for creating a digital certificate quite easily and ensuring its security by storing it on the Windows certificate store. Additionally, managing the certificates has been made easier by the available personal certificate management feature on the acrobat file setting dialogue box. Project 9-2: Installing and using Pretty Good privacy (PGP) The project entails the exchange of public keys and e-mail messages with your colleagues. The procedure requires the installation of the PGP desktop encryption client which is readily available in the website – pgp.com. Please make sure you have outlook configured and connected to a Microsoft exchange server before implementing the PGP. Key Generation Assistant Generating Keys for different Email Addresses Mail Server Configuration Sending an email via the outlook program Experience and Findings: The PGP program provides an easy install and configuration dialogue box that easily connects to the Microsoft outlook program to enable you encrypt your files and informative data alike emails sent within an organization. The assistant console helps one generate keys easily and that can be emails to classmates, recipients or colleagues as can be viewed on the above dialogue box option. Case Project 10-1: The Debate over IDS Intrusion detection systems provide the needed support for system administrators to efficiently monitor their company servers. The claims made by the Gartner Group the giving the idea that IDS - Intrusion detection systems is a waste of time and will fade by around the year of 2005 sparked a lot of reaction against the notion. On the contrary, the sales of IDS - Intrusion detection systems has increased, therefore, meaning that the utilization of IDS - Intrusion detection systems are now becoming more prevalent in companies. My view regarding IDS - Intrusion detection systems is that I believe the technology is bound to stay in use in various organizations and is about to be developed and deployed in multiple upcoming organization in the future. The question is why any organization would want to use the IDS - Intrusion detection systems in the current time. This is because it offers a lot of beneficial security features when installed in network. One is because it delivers a reflexive and responsive capability for the network administrators therefore subsequently enabling and securing the end user from disturbance by unwanted or unauthorized system intrusion. Additionally, the IDS - Intrusion detection systems can work on a variety of devices depending on the device implementation protocols an organization wants to use. The costs vary according to the technology systems an organization uses. For instance, the use of hubs/switches and TAPS all offer cost effective security systems for the respective organizations. Computer forensic analysis based on network enable computers increases the capability and effectiveness of the IDS features via providing an accurate confirmation and response mechanisms for monitoring intrusion alerts. Investing in an IPS - Intrusion prevention systems is advantageous in that it offers all the features of detection and prevention of unauthorized entries into a company’s network. Conversely, implementing this kind of system proves to be quite technical and expensive since it requires upgraded expertise. Compared to the sole use of IDS - Intrusion detection systems, IPS (Intrusion prevention systems) offer additionally and advanced features of network traffic monitoring for malicious activities. IPS systems are advisable for large organizations. Case Project 10-3: IDS and Firewalls Definitively, a firewall represents a hardware or software device which operates in a networked environment via aiding security by blocking any unwanted access to the communication network. A firewall places itself between a local network (LAN) and the Internet, and subsequently filters traffic that might be dangerous or harmful to a company’s network. The firewall analyzes packets (data or information sent over the network) and matches them using protocols, the source port, the destination address and destination port. A firewall is slightly different from an Intrusion Detection System (IDS); let us say for example, a firewall is a security personnel at the gate and an IDS device can be represented by a security camera just after the gate. In this case, the explanation would highlight that a firewall can block connection, while on the other hand, an Intrusion Detection System (IDS) cannot block connection. Therefore, an Intrusion Detection System (IDS) only performs the action of alerting any intrusion efforts made on the network to the security administrator. The functionality of the firewall and Intrusion Detection System (IDS) can be incorporated to offer a more advanced and comprehensive security layer on an organization’s network. This is because it will enable the collection of additional information regarding the network information, for example, the origin of an attack and the end user’s location. The only major disadvantage of incorporating the two systems together would make the analysis of logs quite difficult. The system would also be expensive to maintain therefore the implementation of an IPS and IDS is beneficial instead of the firewall because the costs of monitoring both systems would be unpredictable. References Gartner, Inc. (2003). The Gartner Group Report. Stamford, Conn.: Gartner Northcutt, S., & Edmead, M. T. (2003). Inside network perimeter security: The definitive guide to firewalls, VPNs, routers, and intrusion detection systems. Indianapolis, Ind: New Riders. Read More