A Common Weak-Link in the Security Chain

The need for computer security is commonly accepted today in government and industry. Numerous studies have shown both an increase in security incidents as well as an increase in interest by organizations to address security issues. Many security tools such as firewalls and intrusion detection systems are becoming commonplace in organizations yet intruders still are able to penetrate computer networks. Often this is because security administrators neglect to address one of the most common weaklinks in the “security chain” – modems attached to individual machines inside of the security perimeter. The use of “war-dialers” have been discussed in numerous articles and have been made famous though movies such as War Games. Many security professionals, however, commonly neglect to use this or similar tools as a means to audit their organization’s modem use. This paper discusses this common weak-link in security and proposes methods to address this aspect of computer security