Securing Local Resources Using NTFS

Step 1 : Click on the Start button, then select the "Run" command. This will open a small box with a text field. In this field, type 'cmd' without the quotes and press enter.



Step 2 : At the resulting prompt, type in: chkntfs /d: [Enter]
If the message show “D: is not dirty”. This means that there is no corruption on the drive.



Step 3 : Now that we're in the command console, you'll need to enter in the command that will convert the drives. Make sure you type in the command exactly as it's shown (replace 'X:' with the drive letter you need to convert: CONVERT X: /FS:NTFS [Enter]



Step 4 : Close all Windows and log off

Encrypting a File or Folder

Encrypting a File or Folder

To encrypt a file or folder from the GUI, follow these steps:
a. Open Windows Explorer or My Computer.
b. Right-click the file or folder that you'd like to encrypt or unencrypt and select Properties.
c. On the General tab, click the Advanced button.
d. From the Advanced Attributes dialog box, mark (or clear) the Encrypt Contents to Secure Data check box to encrypt (or unencrypt) the file or folder that you selected. Click OK to close the Advanced Attributes dialog box and then click OK for the properties sheet to apply this setting. (When you encrypt a folder, you are prompted to select between applying this setting to the folder only and applying it to the folder, subfolders, and files.)
e.To share access to an encrypted file, click the Details button from the Advanced Attributes dialog box. You cannot share access to encrypted folders.
f. From the Encryption Details dialog box, click the Add button to add more users' EFS certificates to the encrypted file to share access with those users.
g.From the Select User dialog box, click the user whose EFS certificate you want to add for shared access to the encrypted file and click OK. You see only certificates for users who have encrypted a folder or file previously.
h.Click OK for the Encryption Details dialog box.
i. Finally, click OK for the Advanced Attributes dialog box and then click OK for the Properties



Account Lockout Policy
You can access Group Policy settings by opening the Microsoft Management Console (MMC) and adding the Group Policy snap-in.
The Acount Lockout Policy controls settings related to users attempting to login and entering wrong passwords. While it is possible to set this up so that a person can sit there and try thousands of different passwords in an attempt to find the right one, this is highly unwise and a serious compromise of security. There are three settings for this policy and using them will greatly increase security.
Access the Account Lockout Policy from:
Computer Configuration -> Windows Settings -> Security Settings -> Account Policy -> Account Lockout Policy

The three settings that you can set are: Account Lockout Duration, Account Lockout Threshhold, and Reset Account Lockout After. I recommend setting Account Lockout Threshhold to "5 Invalid Login Attempts". When you do this, it will automatically set the other two settings to "30 Minutes". When you apply these settings, a user will become completely locked out of the system for 30 minutes if they enter the wrong password 5 times.

Password Policy
The Password Policy controls settings related to each user's passwords. It is important to enforce a password policy, because the chances of a user giving out their password (accidently or intentionally) is very high. Thus, requiring them to change their password reasonably often and have it conform to a set of standards that make it very difficult to crack is in your organization's best interests.

Access the Password Policy from:
Computer Configuration -> Windows Settings -> Security Settings -> Account Policies -> Password Policy

There are five settings here that you can set. They are: Enforce Password History, Maximum Password Age, Minimum Password Age, Minimum Password Length, and Password Must Meet Complexity Requirements. I recommend that you enforce a password history that is a minimum of 6. This means that a user must change their password six times before they can reuse a password.

For Maximum Password Age, I recommend between 30 and 40 Days - this forces users to change their password every number of days specified in this setting.

Minimum Password Age is also important, because it requires users to use their password a certain amount of time before changing it. A smart user could figure out your system and change their password six times in a row, thus bypassing the password change and compromising your network. I recommend a Minimum Password Age of 1 day, and preferably 7 days. For Minimum Password Length, most enterprises require a minimum length of 8, or sometimes 12. The longer the password, the harder it is to crack. You should definitely enforce Password Must Meet Complexity Requirements.

Introduction to Virtualization & VMware

Virtualization

Hardware was the first part to be designed in a computer system. It is followed by the software part. Each hardware was specially designed with its own instruction set and developed with its own specific software. In the early days, this was enough to cater for a small community where file sharing and software distribution are not widely practiced. As time goes by, more and more computers are use and each of them are connected to one another, thus making rewriting and distributing software that are compatible to the hardware a major burden.

The need of software that is compatible with any hardware becomes an important consideration in developing a new computer system. This can be achieved by producing hardware that has a standard feature. One way to achieve this is by defining and controlling the interface between hardware and software. This is where the concept of Instruction Set Architecture (ISA) was introduced.

A new problem arises following the introduction of ISA. The operating system developed was only compatible with the hardware from the same vendor. Due to this reason many operating systems were developed for particular system architecture only and cannot be implemented in other machines that have different architecture.

Virtualization eliminates these constraints and enables a much higher degree of portability and flexibility. Software is added to an execution platform to produce virtualization to give it the appearance of a different platform. Virtualization supports an operating system, instruction set, and computational resources which differ from those available on the underlying software. One of virtualization environment created by such software is called virtual machine.

Virtual Machine
Virtual machine (VM) is defined as an efficient and isolated duplicate of a real machine. This environment is created by using Virtual Machine Monitor (VMM) which provides a second layer on a machine for another operating system to run on it. VMM reproduces everything from the CPU instruction to the I/O devices in software of operating system which it run on. Virtualization in VM involves mapping of virtual resources, for example, the register and memory to real hardware resources and it also use the host machine instruction to carry out the actions specified by VMM. This is done by emulating the host ISA.

VMware is a company that provides virtualization software for x86-compatible computers. VMware Inc. is a subsidiary of EMC Corporation and has its headquarters in Palo Alto, California. The term "VMware" is often used in reference to specific VMware Inc. products such as VMware Workstation, VMware Virtual Desktop Infrastructure, VMware Player and VMware Server.

VM, which stands for "Virtual Machine" (not to be confused with the broader term virtual machine), is a widely-installed operating system for IBM-compatible computers and servers that can host other operating systems in such a way that each operating system behaves as if it were installed on a self-contained computer with its own set of programs and hardware resources.

VMware Workstation makes it simple to create and run multiple virtual machines on desktop or laptop computer. We can convert an existing physical PC into a VMware virtual machine, or create a new virtual machine from scratch. Each virtual machine represents a complete PC, including the processor, memory, network connections and peripheral ports.

VMware Workstation lets us use our virtual machines to run Windows, Linux and a host of other operating systems side-by-side on the same computer. You can switch between operating systems instantly with a click of a mouse, share files between virtual machines with drag-and-drop functionality and access all the peripheral devices you rely on every day.

VMware Workstation Installation.

Installing VMware Workstation

Finally, we take a look at the installation process. Start the installation by running the file VMware-workstation-6.0.0-45731.exe and following the screen shots below.

Screen 1: - Welcome



The first screen is simply a Welcome screen. Click [Next] to start the installation process.

Screen 2: - Setup Type



Choose a setup type of "Typical" and click [Next] to continue.


Screen 3: - Destination Folder



The default destination folder for VMware is C:\Program Files\VMware\VMware Workstation\. I typically keep the default. Click [Next] to continue.


Screen 4: - Configure Shortcuts




The installer can automatically create shortcuts for easy access to the VMWare application. I generally choose to keep all shortcuts checked. Click [Next] to continue.


Screen 5: - Ready to Install the Program




This screen is pretty much a confirmation screen. To start the installation process, click [Install].


Screen 6: - Installation Progress



The installation process...


Screen 7: - Registration Information



The next dialog asks for user information and serial number for the product. Although this is an optional step (it can be completed at a later time) I typically get it out of the way and enter all information required. Click [Enter] or [Skip] to continue.


Screen 8: - Installation Wizard Complete




And that's all there is to it. VMware is now installed and ready for you to start creating virtual machines. Click [Finish] to exit the installation wizard.


Screen 9: - Reboot Machine



After installing VMWare Workstation, the installation wizard prompts you to reboot the machine. Click [Yes] to reboot the machine.


Starting VMware Workstation



The VMware installer will create an icon on the Windows Desktop as well as the Quick Launch bar. To start VMware Workstation click either one of these icons.

When starting VMware Workstation for the first time, we are asked to read over and accept the user license agreement. If we agree with the user license agreement, select "Yes" click [OK] to start VMware Workstation.

At this point, weccan start to use the VMware Workstation software to create (or run) our own virtual machines.