Microsoft ISA Server - Case Study Example

ISA SERVER Introduction Microsoft is one of the biggest manufacturers of operating systems but this company is trying to present itself as one of the leading provider of complete IT solutions concerning business beside providing operating systems so, they came up with Internet Security and Acceleration Server (ISA Server). Microsoft introduced ISA Server which is the successor to Microsoft Proxy Server 2.0, it is considered as a part of Microsoft .Net and it offers the significant services of an enterprise firewall along with a web proxy address. The first thing to consider is that the history of ISA Sever is associated with a product named Proxy server 1.0 which was followed by the Proxy Server 2.0. However, the first edition has many restrictions and it was designed to be compatible with only a few of the Internet protocols. Furthermore, the second version was useful and it has expected function and one of its great functions, is to use Windows NT account databases. Finally, they came up with ISA Server, which has many tools and functions. ISA Server supports so many functions that its editions before. In addition, ISA Server components a lot of options and one of most important options is that Firewall. Moreover, it can support any version of Windows Server from Windows 2000 and they are used to offer certain security functions either at individual level or group level. Other than that, the Policy-based administration, Virtual Private network support, Proxy Server, Web Cache, and Dynamic IP filtering are other functions or tools that ISA Server provides. Finally, this paper is continuing talking about its functions and what hardware and software are required to use it also method of installed it and configured it (Shinder, Shinder, & Grasdal). ISA Server The Internet Security and Acceleration Server (ISA Server) is a specialized server that offers a network layer firewalls for organizations and Web Cache solutions for windows. It is also helpful in providing secured and reliable internet connectivity. ISA server is multi featured product that can help any organization in a variety of ways and helps in providing a unique system of securing the internet connectivity with incorporated firewall, VPN server, and gateway along with a Web proxy. ISA server can be configured to provide all of the above facilities or can be set up for any one of the sub set requirement. This feature has an edge for the ISA server with other servers that the installation of the program is without any disruption or interference in the activities of work at the same time security services are also provided (Alexander). Unique Features of ISA server ISA server is a form of a firewall which includes stateful packet firewall, which performs the SPI (stateful packet inspection) to keep track of the TCP streams and UDP communication. As these state of network connections travels through it, the program works to distinguish between the legal connections which are previously known. The other packets which do not match with the known connection are rejected. Additionally, ISA server is capable of tracking down the Internet protocol statistics along with making sure that any illegal connections by the attackers do not take benefit of the susceptibilities of the network. ISA 2006 rejects the external sources as well as the organization’s internal packet to take over the ISA 2006 firewall. This is a very helpful tool against those attackers who want to access the confidential information of the company and steal it or destroy it for their personal gain (ironnetworks). ISA 2006 firewall The ISA 2006 firewall is a combination of stateful packet inspection and application layer. This unique combination makes it a very strong tool for network security gateway solution. Before the release of ISA 2000, other firewall applications only provided security with a simple stateful inspection packet firewall which was able to work against attackers in determining that an attack has taken place but the limitation lies in the fact that it was unable to distinguish between the kind of attack that has taken place like an attack on different servers such as FTP (file transfer protocol) server, mail server, web server or various other servers. This restraint was addressed in ISA server as an application layer examination firewall or security access was provided. This is very useful with the modern attackers who work with application layer attacks to steal or destroy the confidential date of the big organizations. In addition, ISA 2006 is believed to be an ideal and upgraded server that encompasses a combination of security gateway and application layer examination firewall (Noel). The newest version of ISA serves also works as a web proxy firewall. It keeps a check on all the communication that is made on the server. In this scenario, it is helpful for ISA firewall web proxy in protecting the network from malicious viruses, worms and from the activities of hackers. This makes the ISA firewall web proxy as one of the most powerful serves to provide the strongest security measure to the network. This proxy server is either a hardware or software related software which works as a transitional gateway amid a last device and other server from which different services are requested (Leiter, Wood and Cierkowski). Web Proxy Firewall Thus a web proxy server accepts the web connections that are made from a web browser or any other web application. These web connections are forwarded to the endpoint according to the users’ requests. In addition, there are two ways a web proxy server can perform its tasks. It can accept connection from the users of the commercial network and headfirst them to the internet web server. On the other hand, the web proxy server can receive external web contacts on the internal network and headlong them to the servers of the company. With an ISA firewall web proxy, the connections are checked and verified before they are transferred to the internet web server or the corporate server. The ISA firewall web proxy is helpful to the organization in many other ways as well (Noel). The following mentioned features work in addition to the security that is provided to the network. Anonymous users are barred to use the network as the ISA firewall proxy features ensure that the authenticated users only use the server. All the web connections that are made with the help of the firewall are thoroughly inspected by the application layer inspection. This ISA firewall web proxy can control the websites that the users can visit along with content that they download. In addition, ISA firewall web proxy saves every side on the Internet. When a different user wants to visit the same page, the ISA server returns the page from the web cache; the required bandwidth is reduced to a greater extent (Alexander). Virtual Private Networking A virtual private networking is a feature that enables the company to have the office documentation in reach of all the employees who work outside the office premises. This is a very helpful service as the employees can access the words documents, spreadsheets, power point file and the data base when they are not present in the office. Virtual private network is the service that provides a secured network for the outside employees to visit the database of the company. Virtual private networking (VPN) allows the user to create a secure VPN connection on the computer or lap top and connect to any server and access information of the organization (Strassberg). When a typical VPN service is used, the server has the vulnerability of getting worms, virus and Trojan infection in the data base of the company. But with the help of ISA server, such threats are on the VPN server are not entertained. The reason lies behind the fact that ISA server 2006 uses three very powerful methods for the security of the database of the company. The first one is that the ISA server 2006 takes in to account the group based access. Unlike the traditional VPN serves, the user that has logged in from a remote location is allowed to files and data which is according to his group based access and the permission that he has received of the programs and data base to use. VPN users of ISA server 2006 are not allowed to access the whole corporate network. The second method to increase the security of VPN access is to employ application layer inspection to all the VPN servers (Strassberg). Remote Access VPN Quarantine The ISA server 2006 employs the stateful inspection packet along with the application layer inspection to ensure the security from viruses and worms on the company’s data. The third method of securing the data by ISA server 2006 is by using Remote Access VPN Quarantine (VPN-Q) because it allows the inspection of the components of the computer or the laptop that has been used for VPN access. These components are updated to pass the health and the security check and then access the company’s data through VPN. On the other hand, if the system of the user is unable to be updated, the access with VPN is dropped. This is a very important feature as it secures the entire database with threats that are disastrous for the company. The VPN gateway is a feature that is used by companies who have many branch offices along with the main office. The users from the branch offices can connect to the resources of the main office in an inexpensive facility with the help of internet connection. The VPN gateway provides with the use of ISA server 2006. The security is done with the help of stateful packet and application layer inspection with a complete log of the access that is made by different users to the resources of the main office (Weaver, Weaver, & Farwood). Policy Based Administration ISA Server allows the supervisors to administer by utilizing a certain defined policy rules. Policies include certain consistent rules which are designed pertinent to certain groups of users, protocols or some individual users etc. A certain strategy can easily be applied to a certain array or to the complete enterprise. Further for the businesses which are using networks which involve Active Directory Services enhancements it is recommended to make use of multi-tiered enterprise. Such policies require much attention and requirements which must match with the comprehensive IT requirements and facilitation of the management of the complete enterprise and its associated infrastructure (Leiter, Wood, Cierkowski, & Boettger). Version of ISA server The newest version in the line of Internet Security and Acceleration Server by Microsoft is ISA 2006. Initially ISA was introduced in December 2000. This version was the first in the line of Internet Security and Acceleration Server. Another version with major updates was launched in May 2004 known as ISA server 2004. This version had many upgraded features and was a strong competitor of its contemporary servers by the competitive companies that offer a wide variety of security tools and products such as Blue Coar, Cisco PIX/ASA and Check Point NG. But the superiority of ISA 2006 is that it provides Web proxy and caching functionality unlike the other servers (Shinder & Grasdal). Editions of ISA server There are two editions of ISA server. One is the ISA server 2006 Standard Edition and other is the ISA Server 2006 Enterprise Edition: ISA Server 2006 Enterprise Edition This edition is designed for medium side or large enterprises. It can serve 500-100,000 users where there are many branch offices all around the world along with the main office. It provides features like centralized management and configuration and intellectual load balancing and catching leading to ideal up time with performance of the enterprise (Alexander). ISA server 2006 Standard Edition This edition is designed for small to medium size businesses and has the ability to serve 75 to 500 users of the main office and the branch offices. The management of ISA server 2006 Standard edition is performed on the basis of machines on which it is being installed. Benefits of ISA server ISA server allows the management to create such polices that regulate the use of different features for the access of company’s data base. This access is internal as well external by the employees of the company. The use of different features can be distinguished according to the rank of the user, group application, destination and schedule. ISA server is usable with Windows 2000 and the later versions of the widows. It also provides a software development kit. (Rouse, 2014) Each of the unique features that are provided by ISA server can be used as a bundle package or separately. The smart application filter can be used in ISA server. This feature provides the control on traffic on an application-specific level (Daily). The ISA server can run detailed and extensive reports on the user access and security events. These reports can be scheduled on a daily, weekly or monthly basis. The ISA server 2006 helps companies to address their challenges and face the security challenges that are being confronted by large companies all around the world. ISA server has provided huge protection to the corporate data at the main office of a company which can be easily used by the branch offices. The ISA server has the feature to send alerts in case the security is breached or an unauthorized user tries to have access or there is presence of suspicious network events that may compromise the security of the corporate data. The ISA server is secured and reliable software which has the many options of securing the access of the users according to the rules and regulation of the company (Weaver, Weaver and Farwood). Conclusion It is a common practice that we come across many news headlines where the security of big corporations is breached and the attackers get hold of the confidential information of the company and the data comprising of the personal information of the clients. The risks and threat of the IT world due to the negative elements like theft and hacking are increasing day by day. Nowadays almost all the corporations are connected to the internet for their business activities. In this regard, the valuable corporate assets needs protection that is state of the art and it has the ability to combat any devious step taken by the attackers. The back drop of these concerns is the evolution of the ISA server 2006. The more sophisticated the attacks become on the corporate data, the greater the need is to have such a security solution that can provide protection against risks of security. ISA server is one of the programs that can be employed by the companies to make sure that their valuable data is secured not only from external sources but from the internal staff as well. ISA server has the ability to configure the cache contents and make the system vulnerable to outside attacks. Caching not only save the valuable network but also allows management of other tasks such as content downloads which not only enhances the performance of the network but also allows everything to be managed and get organized. The certificate installation which comes in a packaged form with the ISA Server also enhances the scope and functionalities pertinent to the internet. The best thing about ISA server is that when the firewall client is activated on the system it is associated with the Windows based network workstation. It is however found that ISA sever does not require the client to operate a firewall on the system. The firewall offers advantages such as the ability to provide username and group names within certain rules as opposed to specifying the ability for usernames and group names with certain rules rather than mentioning only the client IP addresses. Moreover the firewall client of the ISA Server is so specialized that it can automatically configure the client browser pertinent with the firewall server during the installation phase. It can be concluded that the functionalities and the attributes of the ISA Server is very much similar to the Proxy Servers Winsock client. Overall ISA server proves to be the best thing for the administrators, IT managers or any specific Information technology personnel who is concerned with the security and the performance management of their server with a managed cost. References Alexander, Zubair. Microsoft ISA Server 2000. Sams Publishing, 2001. ironnetworks. Microsoft ISA Standard, ISA Enterprise and IAG based Appliances. 2014. 30 November 2014 . Leiter, Chris, et al. Beginning Microsoft SQL Server 2008 Administration. John Wiley & Sons, 2009. Noel, Michael. Microsoft ISA Server 2006 Unleashed. Pearson Education,, 2007. Shinder, Debra Little john and Martin Grasdal. Configuring ISA server 2000: Building firewalls for windows 2000. Syngress Publishing, 2002. Shinder, Thomas W., Debra Littlejohn Shinder and Martin Grasdal. ISA Server and Beyond: Real World Security Solutions for Microsoft Enterprise Networks. Syngress, 2002. Strassberg. Firewalls: The Complete Reference. Tata McGraw-Hill Education,, 2003. Weaver, Randy, Dawn Weaver and Dean Farwood. Guide to Network Defense and Countermeasures. Cengage Learning, 2013. Read More