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How to Protect Windows networks against harmful cyberattacks – Guide
Cybersecurity is the practice of protecting systems, networks and programs from digital attacks. These cyber attacks are often aimed at accessing, altering or destroying confidential information, extorting money from users, or disrupting normal business processes. Implementing effective cybersecurity measures is particularly challenging today because there are more devices than people and attackers are becoming more innovative.
A successful cybersecurity approach consists of multiple layers of protection spread across the computers, networks, programs, or data that need to be protected. In an organization, people, processes and technology must complement each other to create an effective defense against cyber attacks.
How to Protect Windows networks from harmful cyber attacks
Securing external devices with multi-factor authentication
We recommend taking security measures on external devices first. The user’s internal network is actually fragile, and it is the external device that provides him with a hard shell. It is relatively easy to attempt a lateral attack inside an office resource when the outside world is breached. Therefore, you should first consider whether multi-factor authentication is required for any device that provides remote access, whether external or not.
No one should be able to log in with just a username and password. All devices should be checked to see if the device inherently supports authentication apps and not just simple passwords. However, it doesn’t always have to be absolutely secure, and it may be a little more secure than the neighboring network.
Identify high-value targets in your network
Scan the network to identify high-value targets that can be used for destructive attacks. The core features are not attractive or revolutionary. They have been with users for a long time. In others words, backup. To secure off-site and off-domain backup media, there must be a backup rotation system.
If all backup locations are domain-connected and an attacker has access to them, the backups themselves could be affected. Therefore, the virtualization infrastructure should only allow access to specific accounts designed and secured to prevent this. You should also consider two-factor authentication or two-factor authentication and access rights processes when securing HyperV and other virtualization platforms.
Protection against lateral movements
Protections against lateral movement should also be considered. My office uses a local administration password solution (LAPS) to avoid lateral movement caused by shared local administration passwords.
Also, consider using ports 445, 135, and 139, which are common firewall ports that attackers would target for side access. Learn which workstations and servers use these ports and determine how best to isolate and restrict your network firewall ports.
Verification of remote protocol usage and exposure.
First, you need to ensure that the Remote Desktop Protocol (RDP) is not exposed to the outside world. If RDP is exposed, you should limit RDP to only those devices that need it. We note that the following remote protocols should be blocked on sensitive devices: File and Print Sharing, Remote Desktop, Windows Management Instrumentation (WMI), Windows Remote Management, etc.
This requires IT staff to review the way they manage and maintain their systems. The old method of simply accessing servers and desktops remotely is no longer secure. Ensuring that risks are not introduced through self-management processes.
Check for expired or outdated passwords.
Usernames and passwords are major access points and attack points. Users often reuse passwords and applications deploy certificates to the system. This leads to vulnerabilities. We found that users often leave their passwords unattended on networks and are unaware of the risks. Active Directory (AD) networks are upgraded over time from older, less secure Active Directory (AD) infrastructures.
Many of these outdated settings still reside on the network. A typical example is the WDigest configuration. WDigest authentication is disabled by default in Windows 8.1 and Windows Server 2012 R2 and later, but plain text passwords can still be stored in the LSASS repository to support authentication. We recommend blocking password storage by disabling the following registry key:
Implement Windows Defender Credential Guard
According to blog Steve on Security, Credential Guard is a Windows service that protects your credentials from being stolen from your device. This prevents Windows from stealing the secrets used for single sign-ons and using them on other devices.
Windows has documented APIs that allow software to access it with certificates and secrets loaded into memory. Because these APIs run some enterprise software, Microsoft cannot arbitrarily stop them. Applying Credential Guard makes it difficult for attackers to access your credentials.
Final note
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