CIO

May 13 2008   4:06PM GMT

To be done: an acquisition/merger checklist

Posted by: Troy Tate
howto, CIO, DataCenter, DataManagement, email, Microsoft Windows, Networking, LAN, WAN, Security, antivirus, malware, Monitoring, anti-virus, metrics, reporting, research, tools

An acquisition or merger is not a frequent event for my organization. However, it seems like in the past year or so we have worked on a number of these activities. So, it seems like it may be time to create a formalized checklist for the IT department items that need to be addressed during an acquisition.

To get the ball rolling, I am listing some items that I consider to be important to the infrastructure/security folks like me. I know this list is not exhaustive or complete. It is a work in progress and will need to be refined for each event since they are all different. Some of these may be done in the due-diligence but the rubber hits the road during the implementation.

So, without further ado:
Absorbing a new acquisition - to do list (general & incomplete)

• Private WAN connectivity - 30-90 days or more lead time depending on location
• flexible IP addressing scheme to absorb devices on new network(s)
• Internet firewall changes - ports, source addresses, NAT, etc.
• DNS ownership and management
  • changing registrars
  • changing DNS nameservers - use a dig tool to get information concerning current configuration - MenAndMice
• Network hygiene - how clean are the devices and what personnel habits need to be changed?
• Device inventory - what effort will it take to do this?
• Software licensing inventory
• What about handling loss of staff & knowledge?
  • Documentation of processes, procedures, configurations?
• Phone list sharing
• E-mail addressbook sharing
• E-mail system integration
  • anti-spam/anti-virus
  • calendar sharing
• ERP process integration
• Resource access permissions
• Financial reporting integration - accounts payable, receivable, tax, etc.
• Staff reporting structure
• Other HR activities - benefits, payroll, etc.

I welcome your insight and experience on the many other activities you feel is important to address during a merger/acquisition.

Thanks for your time. Let’s be good network citizens together & practice safe networking!

May 9 2008   6:20PM GMT

Did you see this? - a live honeynet

Posted by: Troy Tate
anti-virus, Data security, howto, CIO, DataManagement, Sandbox, Security, antivirus, forensics, malware, Monitoring, research, honeynet, honeypot, botnet, SQL Server

I just came across the Shadowserver Foundation. According to their mission:

The Shadowserver Foundation is an all volunteer watchdog group of security professionals that gather, track, and report on malware, botnet activity, and electronic fraud. It is the mission of the Shadowserver Foundation to improve the security of the Internet by raising awareness of the presence of compromised servers, malicious attackers, and the spread of malware.

This is a great resource to find out what’s happening “in the wild” and to help sell security protection to your organization. This is real stuff happening in the real world. For example, take a look at how detailed the blog entry is on the winzipices.cn SQL injection / malware attack. This gives you enough information to fight the threat and feel confident you understand it.  Well done to the Shadowserver Foundation!

Thanks for your time. Let’s be good network citizens together &
practice safe networking!

 

May 2 2008   6:26PM GMT

Did you see this? - Gideon’s INFOSEC list

Posted by: Troy Tate
Data security, CIO, DataManagement, Security, NIST

This site is dedicated to increasing security awareness among the general population and the technology community. The Basic Security section is focused on the average person. The Advanced Security section should be of interest to technologists, senior management and legislators. Direct access to security information makes this site unique. Within a few clicks, you should have access to what you are looking for.

The resources listed on this site are updated roughly quarterly. To keep current, consider subscribing to Gideon’s INFOSEC list. The lists’ primary focuses are security resources, security news, industry trends and vulnerabilities. Gideon’s list is low volume and “Distribution Only”.

This site does not accept sponsors or donations of any kind.

Apr 29 2008   5:11PM GMT

I can’t get no technical (support) satisfaction

Posted by: Troy Tate
CIO, DataCenter, Linux, Microsoft Windows, troubleshooting, Networking, Security, Monitoring, tools

My apologies to the Rolling Stones for munging their classic song.

How many times have you encountered a situation in your organization where something needs to be done yet either IT is not able or willing to support your business related efforts. There are lots of reasons for this to happen in the business world.

One division of our business is electronics manufacturing solutions where we assemble parts designed by the customer. I recently encountered a situation where a customer has some onsite testing gear to measure QA data on devices we manufacture for them. The testing gear was not for our engineers but for the customer. According to the supporting engineer, his IT department was not interested in supporting these test devices. So, the engineer was asking my organization to support the test hosts.

Well, our side of the story now… these test devices run linux as the operating system. My IT organization typically does not support linux because our focus is on Microsoft Windows systems. So, here’s the conundrum… who supports this engineer and his manufacturing requirements? The test hosts are owned and designed by the customer, yet the hosts are at my organization’s facility.

Tough situation for sure! Right now our answer is to do our best effort in supporting this engineer and the engineer is going to talk to his in-house IT department to see if they will support his requirements. It seems to be a shame that this engineer cannot find support from his own organization. He really could use this when in the end, these test systems are there to support the quality of his organization’s product.

What are your thoughts on this situation? Does your IT organization have to support third-party systems within your facility? If so, what protections have you put into place for your organization?

Thanks for your time. Let’s be good network citizens together & practice safe networking!