My works network system

[Kallabungo]

First off, hello to all of you, as you may be able to tell im new to this whole thing and this is my first post ive read all the rules and totally agree with them and have found out a fair bit of usefull information from previous posts.
Basically it starts from i ride trials bikes, then got into making videos and then hosting them on websites. Now i feel im quite fluent with building websites along with the use of flash and other such things. I am however only 16 so yes i have oh so much to learn and ive recently realised that.
Ok i left school and got took on for a job as my title says "website admin" description of this is my boss owns a fair few companies and im updating and remaking the lot for him. Along with this i have been known as being relatively good at fixing software problems, not to brag at all but so far (touch wood) i havent come across a software problem i couldnt fix one way or another.
So just lately i have been landed the job of taking care of our network, keeping an eye on what people are downloading and looking at what they are using there computers for and keeping things in general running order.

Now my biggest worry - file and printer sharing, ive read over the net that this is basically a door saying come through and hack me, is this so?
Yeah i am pretty worried seeing as now this network is my responsibility and will land on my shoulders if something goes tits up, and yes you may of gathered we have a big amount of file and printer sharing all across our network.

I would greatly apreciate any help on what i need to look out for what people can do and how i can stop it.
We have here 39 computers with two servers, one for an independant system used for the business as a DOS program which is the heart of the company, the other server uses a wireless link through the entire office with a 2mb up and down internet connection.

All this was installed by "professionals" but personally i have no faith in them seeing as ever since they have been here we have had 5 of our computers constantly crashing and generally misbehaving after they have fiddled with them. the best one was when a worker attempted a defrag and this totally wiped the hardrive, although no antivirus software or firewalls had picked up anything previously.

thanks in advance for any help i may recieve. kallabungo

[IcEbLAze]

First off, hello to all of you, as you may be able to tell im new to this whole thing and this is my first post ive read all the rules and totally agree with them and have found out a fair bit of usefull information from previous posts.

The Rules:

1. The ‘I’m new post’
Ok, so you’re new and eager to let the world know you are on the board. Well, don’t. Introduce yourself by making an intelligent first post, asking an intelligent question, or contributing a meaningful comment to a conversation. Nothing is more annoying than reading a post that says ‘Hi, I’m new here..well, Ok..bye’. ‘I’m new’ posts will not be tolerated and it’s an easy way to get banned on your first post.

<snip>Now my biggest worry - file and printer sharing, ive read over the net that this is basically a door saying come through and hack me, is this so?
Yeah i am pretty worried seeing as now this network is my responsibility and will land on my shoulders if something goes tits up, and yes you may of gathered we have a big amount of file and printer sharing all across our network.
<snip>kallabungo

Google?

[Second]

I am however only 16 so yes i have oh so much to learn and ive recently realised that.

Ok i left school and got took on for a job

How about realizing that quitting school at 16 isn't the best idea...especially if something..as you say

if something goes tits up

[Kallabungo]

ok sorry if i managed to start my first thread a bit wrong or totally but everybody does make mistakes once in a while. Yeah i was thinking of going to do 6th form or college but during the break leaving year 11 i came across this job and to be honest i thought about the circumstances of well... do i spend another few years in education learning things i dont really want to know and leave school at the same time as everybody else and struggle to look for a job or do i take this oppurtunity now give it my best, earn a professionals income and if it is a mistake go back for college.
I do believe this can go all tits up and to be honest i dont want to learn how to hack the risk of being caught from articles ive read are too great to me its not worth it, i would prefer to be a professional web designer as the years pass and hopefully one day out smart the hackers from breaking into systems and getting potentially critical information.
All i really want to know are what the exploits are as i can see many of you on here know a lot more about this than i do so i can learn more about protecting systems, if any of you are prepared to give me valuable information it would be greatly apreciated alternatively im going to have to find another source.

[IcEbLAze]

do i spend another few years in education learning things i dont really want to know and leave school at the same time as everybody else and struggle to look for a job or do i take this oppurtunity now give it my best, earn a professionals income and if it is a mistake go back for college.

Why not get your GED or high school equivelent test, then do your college thing on the side then. You need education in this world, no matter how good you think this job is going to pan out, you're 16 for christ sakes.

All i really want to know are what the exploits are as i can see many of you on here know a lot more about this than i do so i can learn more about protecting systems, if any of you are prepared to give me valuable information it would be greatly apreciated alternatively im going to have to find another source.

Didn't I say google?

edit: added "[/QUOTE]"

[Kallabungo]

could i seriously fit any of this in though? i dont know how flexible these sort of things are, i leave my house at 6:30 in the morning travel 45 miles to work leave at 6:30 finally arriving back home just after 7pm, thus this leaves me with just my weekends free which i still like to fit a little bit of trials in. I dont really know how much input these courses involve or the time span.

Im guessing you lot reckon i made a bad choice?

[LosT]

could i seriously fit any of this in though? i dont know how flexible these sort of things are, i leave my house at 6:30 in the morning travel 45 miles to work leave at 6:30 finally arriving back home just after 7pm, thus this leaves me with just my weekends free which i still like to fit a little bit of trials in. I dont really know how much input these courses involve or the time span.

Im guessing you lot reckon i made a bad choice?

Did you ever consider that you *may* be able to get a job that has a better schedule if you had more education? Just a thought.

LosT

[Second]

i leave my house at 6:30 in the morning travel 45 miles to work


Im guessing you lot reckon i made a bad choice?

Good enough for me...goodness....90 miles a day. Where do you live by the way?

[d3ad1ysp0rk]

could i seriously fit any of this in though? i dont know how flexible these sort of things are, i leave my house at 6:30 in the morning travel 45 miles to work leave at 6:30 finally arriving back home just after 7pm, thus this leaves me with just my weekends free which i still like to fit a little bit of trials in. I dont really know how much input these courses involve or the time span.

Im guessing you lot reckon i made a bad choice?

Just wondering.. how much do you make hourly or yearly?

[Kallabungo]

ok i live in lowestoft which is the most easterly point of england, and have to travel to just the otherside of norwich.

Im on £5 an hour which over the 11 hours a day gives £55 a day and my last pay slip was £1151.50 for the month

[highwizard]

i would prefer to be a professional web designer as the years pass and hopefully one day out smart the hackers from breaking into systems and getting potentially critical information.

I'm sure you mean "out smart criminals" from breaking into your systems, since the words hacker and criminal are not synonomous no-matter what the media says.

[Kallabungo]

i see what you mean, sorry. Im guessing you go by the terms of hacker as in just gaining access and feeling good about it. where as the criminal puts the access they have got into stealing information and using it to their advantage.

[LosT]

i see what you mean, sorry. Im guessing you go by the terms of hacker as in just gaining access and feeling good about it. where as the criminal puts the access they have got into stealing information and using it to their advantage.

Actually that is incorrect as well...

LosT

[TheCotMan]

[Warning: Long post: replies to multiple posts from this thread are contained here.]

I left school and got took on for a job...

Others commented on this. Consider mine a "me too." You don't need a High School Diploma to get a college degree. Everyone who "drops out" has their reasons (support of self, emancipation, etc.) but you are limiting you future opportunities by not getting a GED or some sort of diploma.

Now my biggest worry - file and printer sharing, ive read over the net that this is basically a door saying come through and hack me, is this so?

This is a risk (depending on the service method) that can addressed with filtering of network traffic or appropriate stateful firewall rules. Neither are *total solutions* but are enough for most outside attempts.

Your bigger worry (than printers sharing themselves on the network) should be server/host services exposed to the real world *and* staying up-to-date on all your OS packages.

Next are issues with Worms and viruses, no need to state a suggestion here.

Yeah i am pretty worried seeing as now this network is my responsibility and will land on my shoulders if something goes tits up, and yes you may of gathered we have a big amount of file and printer sharing all across our network.

Deal with outsiders: first step filter/firewall, next define zones of trust with increasing levels of restriction. Then examine other methods for entry to your network like Social Engineering, theft, brute force attacks on passwordded services, dictionary attacks on services, use of plain-text authentication services from outside your network, etc. (very long list.)
Deal with insiders: auditing and politics, then look at technical.

I would greatly apreciate any help on what i need to look out for what people can do and how i can stop it.
We have here 39 computers with two servers, one for an independant system used for the business as a DOS program which is the heart of the company, the other server uses a wireless link through the entire office with a 2mb up and down internet connection.

Wireless? There are many ways to setup a wireless system insecure and allow outsiders into your network. Just relying on WEP is not enough. Many places use variations of VPN in addition to WEP, but even these can be problems when users tell thier laptop's OS/app to "remember my password" and their laptop gets stolen.

There are many other things to consider on making wireless more secure. Do some research with google. Look through the wireless section on these forums. (We have some skilled users in this section that I respect and there is some good content there.) Asking specific questions is better than, "How do I secure wireless?" Show you have done some research.

The best one was when a worker attempted a defrag and this totally wiped the hardrive, although no antivirus software or firewalls had picked up anything previously.

Staying up-to-date with AV defs is also necessary too. However, no amount of updates will protect you from dumbass users, or insiders who intend to cause damage.

Lastly: Get some sort of degree, diploma, or certificate-- It will help you get future jos and increase the chance of promotion and you may fill-in gaps to your learning.

[Added content: replies to other posts in this thread

i would prefer to be a professional web designer as the years pass

I am worried about the lifespan of jobs like WebAdmin/WebMaster/WebMistress. I feel technology will eventually provide tools to make it easy enough for anyone to do it, or the WWW will become obselete or replaced with someting else.
Consider WAIS, Gopher and now WWW ... It is only a matter of time for WWW. Maybe 10 years... maybe 100... making WebAdmin a career seems risky to me over the long term.

could i seriously fit any (degree program) in though?

You make time. Go to school in person, or use a school with "Distance Learning" or use a reputable school that does mail-based home study and occasional tests in person.
A degree/diploma/certificate says this:
* I can complete tasks within a timeline
* I am able to remember things
* I can follow directions (most important)

[Kallabungo]

"thecotman" you have been very very helpfull to me, i now know what to look for, whereas before i was just wondering in general what the hell was going on i have a clearer view of specific points which is the only way this can be tackled. Thanks for taking the time to write such an amount but it really has proven usefull to me.