Security

An important area to consider in your planning is minimizing the effects of human error or deliberate sabotage attempts. If anyone can walk up to your computer running Windows NT Server and restart it, no amount of security that you implement by using software can protect your computer. Not only can they damage information on the computer, but they can steal information from your computer.

You can implement procedures that restrict peoples' physical access to your facility, or to only those areas to which they should need access. Put your computers in a secure room. Lock them. Use a password on your screen saver. Run virus checks on floppy disks before you use them. Or disable the floppy disk, which you can sometimes do by using BIOS options. Otherwise, you can physically disconnect it. Run virus checks on your computer.

Windows NT enables you to manage what your users can and cannot do by creating profiles for each of your users and restricting their access to files and servers. But no amount of planning will cover all of the ways people can cause damage to data on your computers or the computers themselves. Consider security when you develop your backup and storage procedures.

Windows NT Server includes software to write information to the security event log and to audit the log for possible attempts to breach security. You can log things like:

• Access to files.
• Invalid logon attempts.
• All logons.

The Audit policy controls what types of events are recorded in the security log.

Chapter 2, "Network Security and Domain Planning," in the Windows NT Server Networking Guide, contains information about security policies. Chapter 3, "Managing User Work Environments," and Chapter 4, "Managing Shared Resources and Resource Security," in the Windows NT Server Concepts and Planning book, contain more information about security features. Chapter 6, "Windows NT Workstation Security Model," in the Windows NT Workstation Resource Guide, contains more information about physical security as well as security features available when you are running Windows NT. There is also more information in Windows NT Help.