HPE Alletra Storage ArcusOS Network Device Management Security Technical Implementation Guide

To prevent unauthorized connection of devices, unauthorized transfer of information, or unauthorized tunneling (i.e., embedding of data types within data types), organizations must disable unused or unnecessary physical and logical ports/protocols on information systems. Network devices can provide a wide variety of functions and services. Some of the functions and services provided by default may not be necessary to support essential organizational operations. Additionally, it is sometimes convenient to provide multiple services from a single component (e.g., email and web services); however, doing so increases risk over limiting the services provided by any one component. To support the requirements and principles of least functionality, the network device must support the organizational requirements providing only essential capabilities and limiting using ports, protocols, and/or services to only those required, authorized, and approved. Some network devices have capabilities enabled by default; if these capabilities are not necessary, they must be disabled. If a particular capability is used, then it must be documented and approved. Configuring the network device to implement organizationwide security implementation guides and security checklists ensures compliance with federal standards and establishes a common security baseline across DOD that reflects the most restrictive security posture consistent with operational requirements. Configuration settings are the set of parameters that can be changed that affect the security posture and/or functionality of the network device. Security-related parameters are those parameters impacting the security state of the network device, including the parameters required to satisfy other security control requirements. Nonlocal maintenance and diagnostic activities are conducted by individuals who communicate through either an external or internal network. Communications paths can be logically separated using encryption.

Passwords must be protected at all times, and encryption is the standard method for protecting passwords. If passwords are not encrypted, they can be plainly read (i.e., clear text) and easily compromised. Network devices can accomplish this by making direct function calls to encryption modules or by leveraging operating system encryption capabilities. Unapproved mechanisms used for authentication to the cryptographic module are not validated and therefore, cannot be relied upon to provide confidentiality or integrity, and DOD data may be compromised. Network devices using encryption are required to use FIPS-compliant mechanisms for authenticating to cryptographic modules. FIPS 140-2 is the current standard for validating that mechanisms used to access cryptographic modules use authentication that meets DOD requirements. However, authentication algorithms must configure security processes to use only FIPS-approved and NIST-recommended authentication algorithms. The use of secure protocols instead of their unsecured counterparts, such as SSH instead of telnet, SCP instead of FTP, and HTTPS instead of HTTP. If unsecured protocols (lacking cryptographic mechanisms) are used for sessions, the contents of those sessions will be susceptible to eavesdropping, potentially putting sensitive data (including administrator passwords) at risk of compromise and potentially allowing hijacking of maintenance sessions. Satisfies: SRG-APP-000179-NDM-000265, SRG-APP-000172-NDM-000259, SRG-APP-000224-NDM-000270, SRG-APP-000411-NDM-000330, SRG-APP-000412-NDM-000331

Terminating an idle session within a short time period reduces the window of opportunity for unauthorized personnel to take control of a management session enabled on the console or console port that has been left unattended. In addition, quickly terminating an idle session will also free up resources committed by the managed network element. Terminating network connections associated with communications sessions includes, for example, deallocating associated TCP/IP address/port pairs at the operating system level, or deallocating networking assignments at the application level if multiple application sessions are using a single, operating system-level network connection. This does not mean that the device terminates all sessions or network access; it only ends the inactive session and releases the resources associated with that session.

Centralized management of authentication settings increases the security of remote and nonlocal access methods. This control is particularly important protection against the insider threat. With robust centralized management, audit records for administrator account access to the organization's network devices can be more readily analyzed for trends and anomalies. The alternative method of defining administrator accounts on each device exposes the device configuration to remote access authentication attacks and system administrators with multiple authenticators for each network device. Satisfies: SRG-APP-000516-NDM-000336, SRG-APP-000156-NDM-000250, SRG-APP-000177-NDM-000263

The aggregation of log data kept on a syslog server can be used to detect attacks and trigger an alert to the appropriate security personnel. The stored log data can be used to detect weaknesses in security that enable the network IA team to find and address these weaknesses before breaches can occur. Reviewing these logs, whether before or after a security breach, are important in showing whether someone is an internal employee or an outside threat. A network boundary device is a piece of networking hardware that sits at the edge of a network, controlling the flow of data traffic between the internal network and external networks like the internet. It acts as a gatekeeper, enforcing security policies and protecting the internal network from unauthorized access and malicious attacks. Having a second central log server delivers a defense in depth approach for critical boundary devices. Satisfies: SRG-APP-000516-NDM-000350, SRG-APP-000515-NDM-000325, SRG-APP-000795-NDM-000130

Network devices running an unsupported operating system lack current security fixes required to mitigate the risks associated with recent vulnerabilities.