RE: Out-of-band management network -more secure?

["Burton M. Strauss III" <BStrauss () acm org>]

Remember, you are only as secure as the weakest link.


Plus:

Keeps all of the management traffic out of the network and thus - if
properly configured - invisible to mortals (what they can't see isn't going
to spark interest).
Keeps the management traffic (say your netFlow data) from eating bandwidth.

Minus:

More complex to implement and maintain.
Double... wiring, nics, routers, etc - more stuff to buy, more stuff to
fail, more stuff to support/maintain.


The fallacy of OOB is that it makes you secure.  It doesn't - in fact, it's
a more attractive target to attack because there's more 'good stuff' out
there.  It may also be a softer target because if you think it's secure you
may not be keeping those hosts patched and updated.



-----Burton




> -----Original Message-----
> From: Kip Sr. [mailto:kipsr1 () yahoo com]
> Sent: Monday, March 22, 2004 6:46 PM
> To: security-basics () securityfocus com
> Subject: Out-of-band management network -more secure?
>
>
> Hello there!
>
> I am looking for opinions about implementing an
> out-of-band management network. I am talking about
> dual homing NICs of web/db servers, routers, switches,
> etc. - to both production network and management
> network.
>
> Can someone tell me the main reason for implementing
> OOB? Any security implications I should be aware of?
>
> Thank you all in advance!
>
> Thanks!
> Kip.


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