Create an Internet and E-mail Acceptable Use Policy

Lab 4

Part 1:  10 points

Assignment: Create an Internet and E-mail Acceptable Use Policy

Learning Objectives and Outcomes

  • Research and compare Internet and e-mail use policies enforced by other organizations.
  • Create an Internet OR e-mail use policy for an organization.

Assignment Requirements

You are a networking intern at Richman Investments. An employee of the company used employer-owned equipment to access the Internet and check his personal Web-based e-mail account. He followed a link in a spam e-mail, downloaded games to his hard disk, and inadvertently infected the computer with malware, which spread to the network server. The security officer at Richman has asked you to research and to define “the acceptable use of Richman assets regarding Internet and e-mail access,” including the actions that are prohibited. The employees must be restricted from using the Internet at work for personal use, other than to occasionally check Web-based personal e-mail accounts. Personal downloads must be strictly prohibited. Your definition will become part of the overall Richman security policy.

For this assignment:

  • Research Internet use policies on the Internet. Find acceptable use policies of real companies. Go to the SANS website at http://www.sans.org/security-resources/policies/ to view sample policies.
  • View this link to view clear definitions for each part of the policy (this is not my creative work—this statement gives credit to the author) https://www.cybersecurity.my/data/content_files/11/53.pdf
  • Assignment: Create a simple Internet OR E-mail acceptable use policy for Richman Investments that defines the acceptable and unacceptable use of Internet OR e-mail access.  Do NOT copy and paste policies directly from the Internet!  Write the policy in your own words!  Be sure to include the following sections:
    • Purpose-the reason for policy
    • Scope-what is covered by the policy
    • The actual policy-include at least 5 guidelines
    • Enforcement-what happens if someone violates the policy or if there is a security breach

RICHMAN INVESTMENTS

Acceptable use policy (Internet and e-mail access)

1.     Overview

Richman Investments’ reason for publishing this Acceptable Use Policy is not to impose rules and regulations contrary to the established way of life of the company but to ensure that the security of the company is taken more seriously.

The internet and all electronics media used in the company, which includes operating systems, computers storage media etc., are the property of Richman Investments’ . These systems are to be used for business purposes in serving the interests of the company, and of our clients and customers in the course of normal operations. Please review Human Resources policies for further details.

Security is of utmost importance to the company and it involves a team effort to do things involving the participation and support of every employee and affiliate who deals with the computers. It is the responsibility of every computer user to know these guidelines, and to conduct their activities accordingly.

2.     Purpose

The purpose of this policy is to outline the acceptable use of internet and e-mail access at Richman Investments’. These rules are in place to protect the employee and Richman Investments’Inappropriate use exposes <Company Name> to risks including virus attacks, compromise of network systems and services, and legal issues.

3.     Scope

This policy applies to the use of information, electronic and computing devices, and network resources to conduct Richman Investments’ or interact with internal networks and business systems, whether owned or leased by Richman Investments’ the employee, or a third party. All employees, contractors, consultants, temporary, and other workers at Richman Investments’ and its subsidiaries are responsible for exercising good judgment regarding appropriate use of information, electronic devices, and network resources in accordance with Richman Investments’

policies and standards, and local laws and regulation. Exceptions to this policy are documented in section 5.2

This policy applies to employees, contractors, consultants, temporaries, and other workers at <Company Name>, including all personnel affiliated with third parties. This policy applies to all equipment that is owned or leased by <Company Name>.

4.     Policy

4.1    General Use and Ownership

4.1.1        <Company Name> proprietary information stored on electronic and computing devices whether owned or leased by <Company Name>, the employee or a third party, remains the sole property of <Company Name>.  You must ensure through legal or technical means that proprietary information is protected in accordance with the Data Protection Standard.

4.1.2        You have a responsibility to promptly report the theft, loss or unauthorized disclosure of <Company Name> proprietary information.

4.1.3        You may access, use or share <Company Name> proprietary information only to the extent it is authorized and necessary to fulfill your assigned job duties.

4.1.4        Employees are responsible for exercising good judgment regarding the reasonableness of personal use. Individual departments are responsible for creating guidelines concerning personal use of Internet/Intranet/Extranet systems. In the absence of such policies, employees should be guided by departmental policies on personal use, and if there is any uncertainty, employees should consult their supervisor or manager.

4.1.5        For security and network maintenance purposes, authorized individuals within <Company Name> may monitor equipment, systems and network traffic at any time, per Infosec's Audit Policy.

4.1.6        <Company Name> reserves the right to audit networks and systems on a periodic basis to ensure compliance with this policy.

  • Security and Proprietary Information
    • All mobile and computing devices that connect to the internal network must comply with the Minimum Access Policy.
    • System level and user level passwords must comply with the Password Policy. Providing access to another individual, either deliberately or through failure to secure its access, is prohibited.
    • All computing devices must be secured with a password-protected screensaver with the automatic activation feature set to 10 minutes or less. You must lock the screen or log off when the device is unattended.
    • Postings by employees from a <Company Name> email address to newsgroups should contain a disclaimer stating that the opinions expressed are strictly their own and not necessarily those of <Company Name>, unless posting is in the course of business duties.
    • Employees must use extreme caution when opening e-mail attachments received from unknown senders, which may contain malware.
  • Unacceptable Use

The following activities are, in general, prohibited. Employees may be exempted from these restrictions during the course of their legitimate job responsibilities (e.g., systems administration staff may have a need to disable the network access of a host if that host is disrupting production services).

Under no circumstances is an employee of <Company Name> authorized to engage in any activity that is illegal under local, state, federal or international law while utilizing <Company Name>-owned resources.

The lists below are by no means exhaustive, but attempt to provide a framework for activities which fall into the category of unacceptable use.

  • System and Network Activities

The following activities are strictly prohibited, with no exceptions:

  1. Violations of the rights of any person or company protected by copyright, trade secret, patent or other intellectual property, or similar laws or regulations, including, but not limited to, the installation or distribution of "pirated" or other software products that are not appropriately licensed for use by <Company Name>.
  2. Unauthorized copying of copyrighted material including, but not limited to, digitization and distribution of photographs from magazines, books or other copyrighted sources, copyrighted music, and the installation of any copyrighted software for which <Company Name> or the end user does not have an active license is strictly prohibited.
  3. Accessing data, a server or an account for any purpose other than conducting <Company Name> business, even if you have authorized access, is prohibited.
  4. Exporting software, technical information, encryption software or technology, in violation of international or regional export control laws, is illegal. The appropriate management should be consulted prior to export of any material that is in question.
  5. Introduction of malicious programs into the network or server (e.g., viruses, worms, Trojan horses, e-mail bombs, etc.).
  6. Revealing your account password to others or allowing use of your account by others. This includes family and other household members when work is being done at home.
  7. Using a <Company Name> computing asset to actively engage in procuring or transmitting material that is in violation of sexual harassment or hostile workplace laws in the user's local jurisdiction.
  8. Making fraudulent offers of products, items, or services originating from any <Company Name> account.
  9. Making statements about warranty, expressly or implied, unless it is a part of normal job duties.
  10. Effecting security breaches or disruptions of network communication. Security breaches include, but are not limited to, accessing data of which the employee is not an intended recipient or logging into a server or account that the employee is not expressly authorized to access, unless these duties are within the scope of regular duties. For purposes of this section, "disruption" includes, but is not limited to, network sniffing, pinged floods, packet spoofing, denial of service, and forged routing information for malicious purposes.
  11. Port scanning or security scanning is expressly prohibited unless prior notification to Infosec is made.
  12. Executing any form of network monitoring which will intercept data not intended for the employee's host, unless this activity is a part of the employee's normal job/duty.
  13. Circumventing user authentication or security of any host, network or account.
  14. Introducing honeypots, honeynets, or similar technology on the <Company Name> network.
  15. Interfering with or denying service to any user other than the employee's host (for example, denial of service attack).
  16. Using any program/script/command, or sending messages of any kind, with the intent to interfere with, or disable, a user's terminal session, via any means, locally or via the Internet/Intranet/Extranet.
  17. Providing information about, or lists of, <Company Name> employees to parties outside <Company Name>.
  • Email and Communication Activities

When using company resources to access and use the Internet, users must realize they represent the company. Whenever employees state an affiliation to the company, they must also clearly indicate that "the opinions expressed are my own and not necessarily those of the company". Questions may be addressed to the IT Department

  1. Sending unsolicited email messages, including the sending of "junk mail" or other advertising material to individuals who did not specifically request such material (email spam).
  2. Any form of harassment via email, telephone or paging, whether through language, frequency, or size of messages.
  3. Unauthorized use, or forging, of email header information.
  4. Solicitation of email for any other email address, other than that of the poster's account, with the intent to harass or to collect replies.
  5. Creating or forwarding "chain letters", "Ponzi" or other "pyramid" schemes of any type.
  6. Use of unsolicited email originating from within <Company Name>'s networks of other Internet/Intranet/Extranet service providers on behalf of, or to advertise, any service hosted by <Company Name> or connected via <Company Name>'s network.
  7. Posting the same or similar non-business-related messages to large numbers of Usenet newsgroups (newsgroup spam).
  • Blogging and Social Media
  1. Blogging by employees, whether using <Company Name>’s property and systems or personal computer systems, is also subject to the terms and restrictions set forth in this Policy. Limited and occasional use of <Company Name>’s systems to engage in blogging is acceptable, provided that it is done in a professional and responsible manner, does not otherwise violate <Company Name>’s policy, is not detrimental to <Company Name>’s best interests, and does not interfere with an employee's regular work duties. Blogging from <Company Name>’s systems is also subject to monitoring.
  1. <Company Name>’s Confidential Information policy also applies to blogging. As such, Employees are prohibited from revealing any <Company> confidential or proprietary information, trade secrets or any other material covered by <Company>’s Confidential Information policy when engaged in blogging.
  1. Employees shall not engage in any blogging that may harm or tarnish the image, reputation and/or goodwill of <Company Name> and/or any of its employees. Employees are also prohibited from making any discriminatory, disparaging, defamatory or harassing comments when blogging or otherwise engaging in any conduct prohibited by <Company Name>’s Non-Discrimination and Anti-Harassment
  1. Employees may also not attribute personal statements, opinions or beliefs to <Company Name> when engaged in blogging. If an employee is expressing his or her beliefs and/or opinions in blogs, the employee may not, expressly or implicitly, represent themselves as an employee or representative of <Company Name>. Employees assume any and all risk associated with blogging.
  1. Apart from following all laws pertaining to the handling and disclosure of copyrighted or export controlled materials, <Company Name>’s trademarks, logos and any other <Company Name> intellectual property may also not be used in connection with any blogging activity

5.     Policy Compliance

  • Compliance Measurement

The Infosec team will verify compliance to this policy through various methods, including but not limited to, business tool reports, internal and external audits, and feedback to the policy owner.

5.2    Exceptions

Any exception to the policy must be approved by the Infosec team in advance.

5.3    Non-Compliance

An employee found to have violated this policy may be subject to disciplinary action, up to and including termination of employment.

To Begin the Lab:

  1. Click the Lab Website link on the course menu to the left.
  2. Launch the Virtual Lab for this chapter.
  3. The lab instructions can be found on the left side of the screen after you launch the virtual lab environment.

Take screen prints AFTER each step of the lab listed below:

Part 2:  Section 1: Hands-On Demonstration (15 points)

Part 1

#12

#19

#27

#34

#39 Show the Account Policies/Password Policy section

Part 2

#7

#12

Part 3

#3

WHAT WAS SCANNED

RESULT DETAILS

HOW TO CORRECT THIS

#12:  Be sure to take 3 screen prints for another issue that has all three links

What was Scanned

Results Details

How to Correct This

Part 3:  Section 2:  Applied Learning (10 points)

Part 1

#3

#6

Maximum password age

This security setting determines the period of time (in days) that a password can be used before the system requires the user to change it. You can set passwords to expire after a number of days between 1 and 999, or you can specify that passwords never expire by setting the number of days to 0. If the maximum password age is between 1 and 999 days, the Minimum password age must be less than the maximum password age. If the maximum password age is set to 0, the minimum password age can be any value between 0 and 998 days.

Note: It is a security best practice to have passwords expire every 30 to 90 days, depending on your environment. This way, an attacker has a limited amount of time in which to crack a user's password and have access to your network resources.

Default: 42.

Minimum password age

This security setting determines the period of time (in days) that a password must be used before the user can change it. You can set a value between 1 and 998 days, or you can allow changes immediately by setting the number of days to 0.

The minimum password age must be less than the Maximum password age, unless the maximum password age is set to 0, indicating that passwords will never expire. If the maximum password age is set to 0, the minimum password age can be set to any value between 0 and 998.

Configure the minimum password age to be more than 0 if you want Enforce password history to be effective. Without a minimum password age, users can cycle through passwords repeatedly until they get to an old favorite. The default setting does not follow this recommendation, so that an administrator can specify a password for a user and then require the user to change the administrator-defined password when the user logs on. If the password history is set to 0, the user does not have to choose a new password. For this reason, Enforce password history is set to 1 by default.

Minimum password length

This security setting determines the least number of characters that a password for a user account may contain. You can set a value of between 1 and 14 characters, or you can establish that no password is required by setting the number of characters to 0.

Default:

7 on domain controllers.

0 on stand-alone servers.

Note: By default, member computers follow the configuration of their domain controllers.

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#20 before you close the window

Part 2

#10

Part 3

#3

#4 Repeat for one other Administrative Vulnerability issue with a score that is not “green” and a How to correct this link.

WHAT WAS SCANNED

RESULT DETAILS

HOW TO CORRECT THIS

UPLOAD THIS COMPLETED DOCUMENT IN BLACKBOARD

Assignment: Create an Internet and E-mail Acceptable Use Policy

ANSWER.

  • Purpose-the reason for policy

To Create a simple Internet or E-mail acceptable use policy for Richman Investments that defines the acceptable and unacceptable use of Internet OR e-mail access.

  • Scope-what is covered by the policy

The acceptable and unacceptable use of Internet OR e-mail access.

  • The actual policy-include at least 5 guidelines

Software Access Procedure

Company-Owned Equipment

Internet Usage

Email Usage at the Company

Company Owns Employee Email

Enforcement-what happens if someone violates the policy or if there is a security breach

The company has varying disciplinary actions against separate guidelines up o termination of appointment. If you need additional information about the meaning of any of this communication, please reach out to your manager or the human resources staff for clarification.

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