APPLICATION ACCESS AND SECURITY

Following the installation of applications, the security should be configured to only allow specific group access to applications. Some applications (for example, Office 2003) will be provided to a large majority of users, whereas other applications, like accounting and payroll software, should be tightly locked down. Locking down file permissions based on group access is an obvious way to lock down an application, but this method is usually time-consuming , as most applications have multiple components like Registry entries, shared DLLs, and executable files. Additionally, many applications can be accessed through operating system holes or other applications such as Web browsers. For larger environments, like our case study CME Corporation, we highly recommend the use of RES, triCerat, or AppSense utilities to provide a cleaner and more automated approach to locking down applications and their usage, while logging any nonauthorized attempts at accessing the application.