protecting ext hard drive

[Rick]

Networking just isn't my forte.

I consider myself a programmer, love to code. Just not into the networking stuff so much.

I recently set my 500 gig ext hard drive up through the router and linksys network storage link.

Any way I can assure they are virus protected through the hard drive or network link?

I know my pc is protected and I know wifes is but i am going to have various house guests that will be using the HD through the summer as well and am not sure on what security they are using.

Anyway for me to have any networked security going on? I have firewall going on through my router so that will help somewhat with that but mainly asking about antivirus.

[Northman]

You might be able to password protect it.

[Rick]

I can but I actually want thm to be able to use it, I just want to be able to protect against viruses on it in case thier virus protection level is not up to par. (which knowing these 2 I doubt it is).

[Rick]

As far as passwords go to I actually am protecting the network that way without the password as I have set my network up as a private network.

All the computers have an assigned ip, they don't get it automatically and I am fairly sure I can set it up in the router to only allow connections with the assigned ips.(just haven't done that part yet)

[Thnikkaman]

Just re-read your post. Is it set up as a NAS (Network Attached Storage), or do users have to access it through a computer first?

[Rick]

http://www.linksysbycisco.com/US/en/products/NSLU2

Any computer that is part of my network can acces it.

I just set them up with an ip and then map the drive.

[Rick]

Have to run to work now so if anyone posts anything else, I am not ignoring you...just won't be back untill this evening :)

[Thnikkaman]

Not seeing anywhere if that device supports any anti virus running on it. My best bet would be to have a computer run a virus scan on the drive every night while you are in bed and its not in use, or just make sure that everyone is using some sort of antivirus on their computer that is connecting to the device.

[Rick]

Ya thats what I expected.

Guess its not a huge deal. The virus isn't just going to breed and move to the other files on the hard drive and if for some reason the guests do get viruses on my or wifes files they will be deleted as soon as they hit my or her computer or I do a scan so worst case scenario they just hit themselves with the same virus they themselves put on.

I think they use mcafee :yuck: so not real impressed with thier ability to protect thier pcs.

I use nod32 on wife and my pcs, love that.


Ant other thoughts on how I can protect network wide systems?

Wireless I use WPA2 AES encription.

I have a router firewall.

I set static ipadresses for all the machines in the network.

Anything else i should consider?

Thanks for the advice! :)

[Thnikkaman]

Turn off dhcp. Otherwise you appear to be secure AFAIK

[Rick]

Yep had that one already taken care of :)

Only thing that sucks is I thought i could only allow specific ipadresses on my router. No option for that.

Only thing i can do is only allow certain mac adresses if I want but how do you figure out what the mac adresses are unless you log on the router and look while the wireless machines are connected to the network?

[Rick]

How do I determine what my MAC address is under Windows 2000/XP
Go Start->Run, cmd, OK to open a cmd prompt.
Type ipconfig /all
Your MAC address is represented by the Physical Address field.


So really nothing I can set up in advance, have to wait till they are here and then add their addreses to the router.

[Rick]

So I set up mac filtering in my home, and so far am only allowing my lap top, wifes pc, printer and wii access.

So does this mean that there is pretty much no way someone can pull outside my home with a laptop and gain access to my network, no matter how good they are as thier wireless can't access it? Even if by some frak chance they gain access to my network wireless key?

So if they want to get in they have to do it the old fasion way, hack through the router firewall then the pc firewall through the internet?

[Day1BroncoFan]

A person can always hack into your network. The question is how bad do they want in and what are they willing to do to get in.

Usually in your home network where someone would be out in the street trying to use your wireless they're looking for easy unless they have a grudge and you're the target. In most cases they just move onto the next one.

[Rick]

God I hate security.

Give me a program to write anyday, I don't care how many lines of code...just don't ask me to try and secure the machine it's going on. (:

[Day1BroncoFan]

Wireless is much harder to secure. I try to avoid it with my clients when possible but it is convenient.

[Thnikkaman]

God I hate security.

Give me a program to write anyday, I don't care how many lines of code...just don't ask me to try and secure the machine it's going on. (:

A few of the guys I went to school with were all about security. We would sit in the lounge in our computer science building watching a packet sniffing program and reading people's aol chats that were on the unencrypted network.

I'm sure you have figured this out, but usually on the bottom of a device with a wireless network card there is a sticker with the MAC address on it.

[eessydo]

If you are that worried about viruses I suggest building another NAS box. Just take an old PC, get some cheap SATA drives (4) for RAID 5 and install openfiler (http://www.openfiler.com) on the existing drive (or CF card as they are more reliable but you will need a CF card slot and at least a 2 GB CF card). You will also need a SATA RAID card.

Set up the hardware raid through the Controller GUI. Burn the Openfiler ISO files disk, shove it in the PC and go through the startup menu. Raid is a little tricker to setup but there is plenty of documentation on the Openfiler Forum. Carve up the disks and your done. You can also set up an OpenLDAP server if you are concerned about security.

You can use that box and your friends can use the standalone 500gb drive. When they are done, just wipe the drive and set it up as a replication device using openfilers replication software.

It is seriously easy to do and since it runs on linux the only thing that will it stop are some strategically placed bullets.

Also supports VMWare ESX if you want to use virtualization.

You can do all of this on the cheap if you use Ebay or Craigslist to buy your hardware. I got an old SATA raid card off of craigslist for 50 bucks. Had to update the firmware on it but that was not hard at all once I read some documentation from the vendor online.

[Thnikkaman]

If you are that worried about viruses I suggest building another NAS box. Just take an old PC, get some cheap SATA drives (4) for RAID 5 and install openfiler (http://www.openfiler.com) on the existing drive (or CF card as they are more reliable but you will need a CF card slot and at least a 2 GB CF card). You will also need a SATA RAID card.

Set up the hardware raid through the Controller GUI. Burn the Openfiler ISO files disk, shove it in the PC and go through the startup menu. Raid is a little tricker to setup but there is plenty of documentation on the Openfiler Forum. Carve up the disks and your done. You can also set up an OpenLDAP server if you are concerned about security.

You can use that box and your friends can use the standalone 500gb drive. When they are done, just wipe the drive and set it up as a replication device using openfilers replication software.

It is seriously easy to do and since it runs on linux the only thing that will it stop are some strategically placed bullets.

Also supports VMWare ESX if you want to use virtualization.

You can do all of this on the cheap if you use Ebay or Craigslist to buy your hardware. I got an old SATA raid card off of craigslist for 50 bucks. Had to update the firmware on it but that was not hard at all once I read some documentation from the vendor online.

I might have to look into that sometime when I need it.

[OrangeHoof]

This may not be helpful but the way I use my external hard drive is that I only have it plugged in to perform back-ups. The rest of the time, it's not plugged in so there's no way it can be infected. My PC has firewall software, virus scans, etc. but the only time I expose my external hard drive is to run back-ups which take a few hours once a month. The rest of the time, it's not in use.

[Rick]

If you are that worried about viruses I suggest building another NAS box. Just take an old PC, get some cheap SATA drives (4) for RAID 5 and install openfiler (http://www.openfiler.com) on the existing drive (or CF card as they are more reliable but you will need a CF card slot and at least a 2 GB CF card). You will also need a SATA RAID card.

Set up the hardware raid through the Controller GUI. Burn the Openfiler ISO files disk, shove it in the PC and go through the startup menu. Raid is a little tricker to setup but there is plenty of documentation on the Openfiler Forum. Carve up the disks and your done. You can also set up an OpenLDAP server if you are concerned about security.

You can use that box and your friends can use the standalone 500gb drive. When they are done, just wipe the drive and set it up as a replication device using openfilers replication software.

It is seriously easy to do and since it runs on linux the only thing that will it stop are some strategically placed bullets.

Also supports VMWare ESX if you want to use virtualization.

You can do all of this on the cheap if you use Ebay or Craigslist to buy your hardware. I got an old SATA raid card off of craigslist for 50 bucks. Had to update the firmware on it but that was not hard at all once I read some documentation from the vendor online.

Thanks, I'll keep all that in mind.

I am really not that concerened with the security, I think I am for the most part fairly secure. But I figure doesn't hurt to be overly secure.

Another qestion I have is does it really make a differance broadcasting your network name or not?

I keep it broadcasted for the ease of the people I allow to find the network and join but I really don't have to, then can just put in the network information without "seeing" the network.

I guess the main question would be on security, does it really make a differance with hackers patrolling if they can see the broadcasted network or do they have some nifty tools that can detect wireless networks whether you are broadcasting or not?

[Rick]

This may not be helpful but the way I use my external hard drive is that I only have it plugged in to perform back-ups. The rest of the time, it's not plugged in so there's no way it can be infected. My PC has firewall software, virus scans, etc. but the only time I expose my external hard drive is to run back-ups which take a few hours once a month. The rest of the time, it's not in use.

Main reason I am using it on the network is so every can just store all thier music, videos, etc on it instead of taking valuable space on the computer.

I know on my laptop I have about 10 gigs free right now with no music or videos on it as i have a ton of large software development applications on it.

I have 48 gigs free on my desktop without the media and have all the applications on it too.

On my end i would rather have my machines only hold my valuabe tools and let all the "play" be on the ext drive.

[OrangeHoof]

I understand. Your needs are different than mine. I guess my primary point is that the best security for a external hard drive is - don't plug it in. But, as you've explained it, you'll need to come up with a hardware solution.