Securing the Vista Environment

Book description

"Securing the Vista Environment" takes you on a quick tour of the most significant security features in Vista, Microsoft's first revision of Windows in almost six years. You'll get background on threats and vulnerabilities that will make you think differently about security. Security is more than just the technology and configurations--it's about how we use the system that makes it secure or not. Then we'll cover Vista's security features, from user privileges to Windows Defender, User Account Control, and BitLocker, as well as strategies for protecting your information from unwanted disclosure and accidental damage and loss.

Table of contents

  1. Securing the Vista Environment
    1. Why Security Is Needed
      1. It's Up to You
      2. Know Your Enemy
      3. CIA: Confidentiality, Integrity, and Availability
      4. Threats
        1. Malware
        2. How malware spreads
        3. Theft of information
        4. Sabotage
        5. Accidental events
      5. Vulnerabilities
        1. Software vulnerabilities
        2. Hardware vulnerabilities
        3. User issues
      6. Epilogue
    2. New Security Features in Vista
      1. User Account Control
      2. Disabling UAC
    3. Setting Up User and Group Accounts
      1. Standard Versus Administrative Users
        1. Standard user
        2. Administrator user
      2. Setting Up User Accounts
      3. Setting Up User Groups
      4. Account Policies
        1. Password policy
        2. Account lockout policy
        3. Setting account security policies
    4. Event Management
      1. Manage Auditing
        1. Turn on auditing
        2. Changing audit settings on files
      2. Viewing Audit Logs and Events
    5. Protecting Against Malware
      1. The Windows Security Center
      2. Anti-Virus and Anti-Spyware
        1. Recommended settings
        2. Get second opinions often
        3. Anti-spyware programs
      3. Windows Defender
        1. Scan
        2. Tools
      4. Windows Firewall
        1. Firewall in action
      5. Automatic Updates
      6. Malicious Software Removal Tool
      7. Internet Explorer Security
        1. IE Privacy Settings
        2. IE Security Settings
        3. Phishing Filter
        4. Setting Parental Controls
    6. Filesystem Security
      1. Filesystem access control
        1. Setting file permissions for a user
        2. Sharing files from a directory
        3. Sharing folders from the Public folder
      2. File Encryption
        1. Filesystem encryption with EFS
        2. BitLocker drive encryption
        3. Setting up BitLocker (no TPM)
        4. Booting with BitLocker (no TPM)
        5. Recover data encrypted with BitLocker
        6. Manage a TPM environment
      3. Disk Quotas
        1. Setting up Disk Quotas
        2. Run a Disk Quotas report
        3. Setting individual quotas
    7. Network Security
      1. Network Access Protection
      2. Wireless Network Access
        1. Recommended wireless network settings
    8. Physical Safeguards
      1. Lock Your Notebook or Desktop
      2. Prevent Others from Shoulder Surfing
    9. Strategies for Protecting Your Information
      1. Backups
      2. Defense In Depth
      3. Password Storage
    10. Staying Current On Security Issues
      1. Sources for Patches
      2. Sources for Security Advisories
    11. Summary
    12. About the Author

Product information

  • Title: Securing the Vista Environment
  • Author(s):
  • Release date: April 2007
  • Publisher(s): O'Reilly Media, Inc.
  • ISBN: 9780596557836