5 Network Device Security Free Online FlashCards

What does network device security protect beyond forwarded traffic?

It protects the device’s management interface and administrative information, not just the traffic the device forwards.

How can administrators isolate network-device management?

Use a dedicated management network or an out-of-band management path when practical.

How should management-plane ACLs restrict device access?

Use management-plane ACLs to limit source addresses and permitted services, and do not expose administration directly to the public internet.

What should be done with unused management services and interfaces?

Disable management services and interfaces that are not needed.

How should administrator privileges be assigned?

Give each administrator only the privileges needed for their work, and separate read-only monitoring from configuration-changing access.

In AAA, what does authentication do?

Authentication verifies an administrator’s identity.

How should centralized AAA be paired with emergency access?

Centralized AAA, such as RADIUS or TACACS+, helps manage access policies and records consistently. Keep a protected local emergency account for AAA outages and test its recovery procedure.

Which protocols are preferred for secure device management and file transfer?

Prefer SSH over Telnet, HTTPS over HTTP, and SCP or SFTP over FTP or TFTP for administration and file transfer.

What secure SNMP configuration is recommended for monitoring?

Prefer SNMPv3 with authentication and privacy (authPriv). Restrict monitoring to approved management stations and use read-only permissions unless more access is operationally necessary.

Which device activities should be logged, and where should logs be sent?

Record successful and failed logins, privilege changes, configuration changes, and relevant system events. Send logs to a centralized, access-controlled syslog service with consistent timestamps.

Why synchronize log timestamps across devices?

Accurate, synchronized timestamps help correlate events across devices. Establish suitable log retention and review practices.

How should network-device configuration backups be protected?

Keep known-good configuration backups separately from the device, restrict retrieval and modification, and encrypt backups containing secrets or sensitive network details. Use version history or change records.