IBM WebSphere Traditional V9.x Security Technical Implementation Guide

Application management includes the ability to control the number of sessions that utilize an application by all accounts and/or account types. Limiting the number of allowed sessions is helpful in limiting risks related to Denial of Service attacks. Application servers host and expose business logic and application processes. The application server must possess the capability to limit the maximum number of concurrent sessions in a manner that affects the entire application server or on an individual application basis. Although there is some latitude concerning the settings themselves, the settings should follow DoD-recommended values, but the settings should be configurable to allow for future DoD direction. While the DoD will specify recommended values, the values can be adjusted to accommodate the operational requirement of a given system.

An attacker can take advantage of user sessions that are left open, thus bypassing the user authentication process. To thwart the vulnerability of open and unused user sessions, the application server must be configured to close the sessions when a configured condition or trigger event is met. Session termination terminates all processes associated with a user's logical session except those processes that are specifically created by the user (i.e., session owner) to continue after the session is terminated. Conditions or trigger events requiring automatic session termination can include, for example, periods of user inactivity, targeted responses to certain types of incidents, and time-of-day restrictions on information system use.

Without enabling repository checkpoints, you will not be able to determine the history of changes to WebSphere configuration files, and who made those changes.

Security auditing will not be performed unless the audit security subsystem has been enabled. Global security must be enabled for the security audit subsystem to function, as no security auditing occurs if global security is not also enabled. Enable global security before enabling security auditing. Satisfies: SRG-APP-000016-AS-000013, SRG-APP-000343-AS-000030, SRG-APP-000080-AS-000045, SRG-APP-000092-AS-000053, SRG-APP-000266-AS-000168, SRG-APP-000267-AS-000170

Logging must be utilized in order to track system activity, assist in diagnosing system issues, and provide evidence needed for forensic investigations post security incident. Remote access by administrators requires that the admin activity be logged. Application servers provide a web and command line-based remote management capability for managing the application server. Application servers must ensure that all actions related to administrative functionality such as application server configuration are logged. Satisfies: SRG-APP-000016-AS-000013, SRG-APP-000343-AS-000030

Logging must be utilized in order to track system activity, assist in diagnosing system issues, and provide evidence needed for forensic investigations post security incident. Remote access by administrators requires that the admin activity be logged. Application servers provide a web and command line-based remote management capability for managing the application server. Application servers must ensure that all actions related to administrative functionality such as application server configuration are logged. Satisfies: SRG-APP-000016-AS-000013, SRG-APP-000343-AS-000030, SRG-APP-000090-AS-000051

Logging must be utilized in order to track system activity, assist in diagnosing system issues, and provide evidence needed for forensic investigations post security incident. Remote access by administrators requires that the admin activity be logged. Application servers provide a web and command line-based remote management capability for managing the application server. Application servers must ensure that all actions related to administrative functionality such as application server configuration are logged. Satisfies: SRG-APP-000016-AS-000013, SRG-APP-000343-AS-000030, SRG-APP-000089-AS-000050, SRG-APP-000495-AS-000220, SRG-APP-000499-AS-000224, SRG-APP-000503-AS-000228, SRG-APP-000504-AS-000229, SRG-APP-000505-AS-000230, SRG-APP-000506-AS-000231, SRG-APP-000093-AS-000054, SRG-APP-000095-AS-000056, SRG-APP-000097-AS-000060, SRG-APP-000098-AS-000061, SRG-APP-000099-AS-000062, SRG-APP-000100-AS-000063, SRG-APP-000101-AS-000072, SRG-APP-000381-AS-000089, SRG-APP-000080-AS-000045

Logging must be utilized in order to track system activity, assist in diagnosing system issues, and provide evidence needed for forensic investigations post security incident. Remote access by administrators requires that the admin activity be logged. Application servers provide a web and command line-based remote management capability for managing the application server. Application servers must ensure that all actions related to administrative functionality such as application server configuration are logged. Satisfies: SRG-APP-000016-AS-000013, SRG-APP-000343-AS-000030

Application servers provide remote access capability and must be able to enforce remote access policy requirements or work in conjunction with enterprise tools designed to enforce policy requirements. Automated monitoring and control of remote access sessions allows organizations to detect cyber attacks and also ensure ongoing compliance with remote access policies by logging connection activities of remote users. Examples of policy requirements include, but are not limited to, authorizing remote access to the information system, limiting access based on authentication credentials, and monitoring for unauthorized access. Satisfies: SRG-APP-000315-AS-000094, SRG-APP-000380-AS-000088, SRG-APP-000133-AS-000092, SRG-APP-000033-AS-000024, SRG-APP-000153-AS-000104

Quality of Protection specifies the security level, ciphers, and mutual authentication settings for the Secure Socket Layer (SSL/TLS) configuration.

Web applications use cookies to track users across requests. These cookies, while typically not sensitive in themselves, connect you to your existing state on the back end system. If an intruder were to capture one of your cookies, they could potentially use the cookie to act as you. Important Web traffic should be encrypted using SSL. This includes important cookies. In the case of WebSphere Application Server, the most important cookie is the LTPA cookie, and therefore it should be configured to be sent only over SSL.

Strong access controls are critical to securing the application server. Access control policies (e.g., identity-based policies, role-based policies, attribute-based policies) and access enforcement mechanisms (e.g., access control lists, access control matrices, cryptography) must be employed by the application server to control access between users (or processes acting on behalf of users) and objects (e.g., applications, files, records, processes, application domains) in the application server. Without stringent logical access and authorization controls, an adversary may have the ability, with very little effort, to compromise the application server and associated supporting infrastructure. Satisfies: SRG-APP-000033-AS-000024, SRG-APP-000380-AS-000088, SRG-APP-000340-AS-000185

Strong access controls are critical to securing the application server. Access control policies (e.g., identity-based policies, role-based policies, attribute-based policies) and access enforcement mechanisms (e.g., access control lists, access control matrices, cryptography) must be employed by the application server to control access between users (or processes acting on behalf of users) and objects (e.g., applications, files, records, processes, application domains) in the application server. Without stringent logical access and authorization controls, an adversary may have the ability, with very little effort, to compromise the application server and associated supporting infrastructure. Satisfies: SRG-APP-000033-AS-000024, SRG-APP-000267-AS-000170

Preventing non-privileged users from executing privileged functions mitigates the risk that unauthorized individuals or processes may gain unnecessary access to information or privileges. Restricting non-privileged users also prevents an attacker, who has gained access to a non-privileged account, from elevating privileges, creating accounts, and performing system checks and maintenance.

Application servers are required to display the Standard Mandatory DoD Notice and Consent Banner before granting access to the system management interface, providing privacy and security notices consistent with applicable federal laws, Executive Orders, directives, policies, regulations, standards, and guidance that states that: (i) users are accessing a U.S. Government information system; (ii) system usage may be monitored, recorded, and subject to audit; (iii) unauthorized use of the system is prohibited and subject to criminal and civil penalties; and (iv) the use of the system indicates consent to monitoring and recording. System use notification messages can be implemented in the form of warning banners displayed when individuals log on to the information system. System use notification is intended only for information system access including an interactive logon interface with a human user, and is not required when an interactive interface does not exist. Use this banner for desktops, laptops, and other devices accommodating banners of 1300 characters. The banner shall be implemented as a click-through banner at logon (to the extent permitted by the operating system), meaning it prevents further activity on the information system unless and until the user executes a positive action to manifest agreement by clicking on a box indicating "OK". "You are accessing a U.S. Government (USG) Information System (IS) that is provided for USG-authorized use only. By using this IS (which includes any device attached to this IS), you consent to the following conditions: -The USG routinely intercepts and monitors communications on this IS for purposes including, but not limited to, penetration testing, COMSEC monitoring, network operations and defense, personnel misconduct (PM), law enforcement (LE), and counterintelligence (CI) investigations. -At any time, the USG may inspect and seize data stored on this IS. -Communications using, or data stored on, this IS are not private, are subject to routine monitoring, interception, and search, and may be disclosed or used for any USG-authorized purpose. -This IS includes security measures (e.g., authentication and access controls) to protect USG interests--not for your personal benefit or privacy. -Notwithstanding the above, using this IS does not constitute consent to PM, LE or CI investigative searching or monitoring of the content of privileged communications, or work product, related to personal representation or services by attorneys, psychotherapists, or clergy, and their assistants. Such communications and work product are private and confidential. See User Agreement for details."

To establish acceptance of system usage policy, a click-through banner at the application server management interface logon is required. The banner shall prevent further activity on the application server unless and until the user executes a positive action to manifest agreement by clicking on a box indicating "OK".

JVM logs are logs used to store application and runtime related events, rather than audit related events. They are mainly used to diagnose application or runtime bugs. But sometimes they may be useful in providing more context when correlated with audit related events. The proper management of log records not only dictates proper archiving processes and procedures be established, it also requires allocating enough storage space to maintain the logs online for a defined period of time. If adequate online log storage capacity is not maintained, intrusion monitoring, security investigations, and forensic analysis can be negatively affected. It is important to keep a defined amount of logs online and readily available for investigative purposes. The logs may be stored on the application server until they can be archived to a log system or, in some instances, a Storage Area Networks (SAN). Regardless of the method used, log record storage capacity must be sufficient to store log data when the data cannot be offloaded to a log system or SAN.

The proper management of log records not only dictates proper archiving processes and procedures be established, it also requires allocating enough storage space to maintain the logs online for a defined period of time. If adequate online log storage capacity is not maintained, intrusion monitoring, security investigations, and forensic analysis can be negatively affected. It is important to keep a defined amount of logs online and readily available for investigative purposes. The logs may be stored on the application server until they can be archived to a log system or, in some instances, a Storage Area Networks (SAN). Regardless of the method used, log record storage capacity must be sufficient to store log data when the data cannot be offloaded to a log system or SAN.

It is critical for the appropriate personnel to be aware if a system is at risk of failing to process logs as required. Log processing failures include software/hardware errors, failures in the log capturing mechanisms, and log storage capacity being reached or exceeded. Notification of the failure event will allow administrators to take actions so that logs are not lost.

Logs are essential to monitor the health of the system, investigate changes that occurred to the system, or investigate a security incident. When log processing fails, the events during the failure can be lost. To minimize the timeframe of the log failure, an alert needs to be sent to the SA and ISSO at a minimum. Log processing failures include, but are not limited to, failures in the application server log capturing mechanisms or log storage capacity being reached or exceeded. WebSphere must be set to log warnings that the audit subsystem has failed or is in danger or failing so action can be taken to correct the issue.

WebSphere uses role-based access controls to restrict access to log data. To take advantage of this capability, WebSphere administrators must identify specific users and place them into their respective roles. The auditor role is used for controlling access to logs.

WebSphere uses role based access controls to restrict access to log data. To take advantage of this capability, WebSphere administrators must identify specific users and place them into their respective roles. The auditor role is used for controlling access to logs.

Protecting log data also includes identifying and protecting the tools used to view and manipulate log data. Depending upon the log format and application, system and application log tools may provide the only means to manipulate and manage application and system log data. It is, therefore, imperative that access to log tools be controlled and protected from unauthorized access. Application servers provide a web- and/or a command line-based management functionality for managing the application server log capabilities. In addition, subsets of log tool components may be stored on the file system as jar or xml configuration files. The application server must ensure that in addition to protecting any web-based log tools, any file system-based tools are protected as well.

Protecting log data also includes identifying and protecting the tools used to view and manipulate log data. Depending upon the log format and application, system and application log tools may provide the only means to manipulate and manage application and system log data. It is, therefore, imperative that access to log tools be controlled and protected from unauthorized modification. If an attacker were to modify log tools, he could also manipulate logs to hide evidence of malicious activity. Application servers provide a web- and/or a command line-based management functionality for managing the application server log capabilities. In addition, subsets of log tool components may be stored on the file system as jar or xml configuration files. The application server must ensure that in addition to protecting any web-based log tools, any file system-based tools are protected as well.

Protecting log data also includes identifying and protecting the tools used to view and manipulate log data. Depending upon the log format and application, system and application log tools may provide the only means to manipulate and manage application and system log data. It is, therefore, imperative that access to log tools be controlled and protected from unauthorized modification. If an attacker were to delete log tools, the application server administrator would have no way of managing or viewing the logs. Application servers provide a web- and/or a command line-based management functionality for managing the application server log capabilities. In addition, subsets of log tool components may be stored on the file system as jar, class, or xml configuration files. The application server must ensure that in addition to protecting any web-based log tools, any file system-based tools are protected from unauthorized deletion as well.

Protection of log records is of critical importance. Encrypting log records provides a level of protection that does not rely on host-based protections that can be accidentally misconfigured, such as file system permissions. Cryptographic mechanisms are the industry-established standard used to protect the integrity of log data. An example of a cryptographic mechanism is the computation and application of a cryptographic-signed hash using asymmetric cryptography. Encryption of log records must be tempered with architecture designs that incorporate log data into SIEM systems that read and act upon log data. Some SIEM systems may not be able to decrypt encrypted log data so encrypting the logs could be detrimental to the incident response process. This must be taken into account and addressed in the security plan.

Protection of log records is of critical importance. Encrypting log records provides a level of protection that does not rely on host-based protections that can be accidentally misconfigured, such as file system permissions. Cryptographic mechanisms are the industry-established standard used to protect the integrity of log data. An example of a cryptographic mechanism is the computation and application of a cryptographic-signed hash using asymmetric cryptography.

The use of the -password option to launch a WebSphere process from the command line can result in a security exposure. Password information may become visible to any user with the ability to view system processes. For example, on a Linux system the "ps" command will display all running processes, which would include all of the command line flags used to start a WebSphere process.

Having files owned by the root or administrator user is an indication that the WebSphere processes are being run with escalated privileges. Running as root/admin user gives attackers elevated privileges that can be used to compromise the system more easily compared to operating the WebSphere processes with regular user privileges. Specifying a regular OS user when installing and managing WebSphere is best practice. By doing so, the WebSphere files will be owned by the user ID specified rather than being owned by the admin user. Use the underlying OS file permissions to ensure that access to the WebSphere files are restricted to only those users who require access.

Running WebSphere as an admin user gives attackers immediate admin privileges in the event the WebSphere processes are compromised. Best practice is to operate the WebSphere server with an account that has limited OS privileges. To configure system startup: https://www.ibm.com/support/knowledgecenter/en/SSAW57_8.5.5/com.ibm.websphere.nd.multiplatform.doc/ae/trun_processrestart.html

Application servers provide a myriad of differing processes, features, and functionalities. Some of these processes may be deemed to be unnecessary or too unsecure to run on a production DoD system. Application servers must provide the capability to disable or deactivate functionality and services that are deemed to be non-essential to the server mission or can adversely impact server performance, for example, disabling dynamic JSP reloading on production application servers as a best practice.

Some networking protocols may not meet organizational security requirements to protect data and components. Application servers natively host a number of various features, such as management interfaces, httpd servers, and message queues. These features all run on TCPIP ports. This creates the potential that the vendor may choose to utilize port numbers or network services that have been deemed unusable by the organization. The application server must have the capability to both reconfigure and disable the assigned ports without adversely impacting application server operation capabilities. For a list of approved ports and protocols, reference the DoD ports and protocols website at https://powhatan.iiie.disa.mil/ports/cal.html.

To assure accountability and prevent unauthorized access, application server users must be uniquely identified and authenticated. This is typically accomplished via the use of a user store which is either local (OS-based) or centralized (LDAP) in nature. To ensure support to the enterprise, the authentication must utilize an enterprise solution.

WebSphere does not provide direct audit of changes to the built-in file registry. The built-in file registry must not be used to support user logon accounts. Use an LDAP/AD server and manage user accounts centrally.

Multifactor authentication creates a layered defense and makes it more difficult for an unauthorized person to access the application server. If one factor is compromised or broken, the attacker still has at least one more barrier to breach before successfully breaking into the target. Unlike a simple username/password scenario where the attacker could gain access by knowing both the username and password without the user knowing his account was compromised, multifactor authentication adds the requirement that the attacker must have something from the user, such as a token, or to biometrically be the user. Multifactor authentication is defined as: using two or more factors to achieve authentication. Factors include: (i) something a user knows (e.g., password/PIN); (ii) something a user has (e.g., cryptographic identification device, token); or (iii) something a user is (e.g., biometric). A CAC or PKI Hardware Token meets this definition. A privileged account is defined as an information system account with authorizations of a privileged user. These accounts would be capable of accessing the web management interface. When accessing the application server via a network connection, administrative access to the application server must be PKI Hardware Token enabled. Satisfies: SRG-APP-000149-AS-000102, SRG-APP-000391-AS-000239, SRG-APP-000392-AS-000240, SRG-APP-000151-AS-000103, SRG-APP-000177-AS-000126, SRG-APP-000402-AS-000247, SRG-APP-000403-AS-000248, SRG-APP-000404-AS-000249, SRG-APP-000219-AS-000147

Application servers may provide a web services capability that could be leveraged to allow remote access to sensitive application data. A web service which is a repeatable process used to make data available to remote clients, should not be confused with a web server. Many web services utilize SOAP, which in turn utilizes XML and HTTP as a transport. Natively, SOAP does not provide security protections. As such, the application server must provide security extensions to enhance SOAP capabilities to ensure that secure authentication mechanisms are employed to protect sensitive data. The WS_Security suite is a widely used and acceptable SOAP security extension.

Application servers may provide a web services capability that could be leveraged to allow remote access to sensitive application data. A web service, which is a repeatable process used to make data available to remote clients, should not be confused with a web server. Many web services utilize SOAP, which in turn utilizes XML and HTTP as a transport. Natively, SOAP does not provide security protections. As such, the application server must provide security extensions to enhance SOAP capabilities to ensure that secure authentication mechanisms are employed to protect sensitive data. The WS_Security suite is a widely used and acceptable SOAP security extension.

Device authentication requires unique identification and authentication that may be defined by type, by specific device, or by a combination of type and device. Device authentication is accomplished via the use of certificates and protocols such as SSL mutual authentication. Device authentication is performed when the application server is providing web services capabilities and data protection requirements mandate the need to establish the identity of the connecting device before the connection is established. Note: with LDAP registry, the entire DN in the certificate is used to look up LDAP. Filters may be configured. With other registries, only the first attribute after the first "=", e.g., CN= is used. https://www.ibm.com/support/knowledgecenter/prodconn_1.0.0/com.ibm.scenarios.wmqwassecure.doc/topics/implementing.htm?cp=SSEQTP_8.0.0 Satisfies: SRG-APP-000394-AS-000241, SRG-APP-000177-AS-000126

Device authentication requires unique identification and authentication that may be defined by type, by specific device, or by a combination of type and device. Bidirectional authentication provides stronger safeguards to validate the identity of other devices for connections that are of greater risk. Device authentication is performed when the application server is providing web services capabilities and data protection requirements mandate the need to establish the identity of the connecting device before the connection is established. Because of the challenges of applying this requirement on a large scale, organizations are encouraged to only apply the requirement to those limited number (and type) of devices that truly need to support this capability. Note: with LDAP registry, the entire DN in the certificate is used to look up LDAP. Filters may be configured. With other registries, only the first attribute after the first "=", e.g., CN= is used.

When the application server is using PKI authentication, a local revocation cache must be stored for instances when the revocation cannot be authenticated through the network, but if cached authentication information is out of date, the validity of the authentication information may be questionable.

The cornerstone of PKI is the private key used to encrypt or digitally sign information. The key by itself is a cryptographic value that does not contain specific user information, but the key can be mapped to a user. Without mapping the certificate used to authenticate to the user account, the ability to determine the identity of the individual user or group will not be available for forensic analysis. Application servers must provide the capability to utilize and meet requirements of the DoD Enterprise PKI infrastructure for application authentication.

Encryption is only as good as the encryption modules utilized. Unapproved cryptographic module algorithms cannot be verified and cannot be relied upon to provide confidentiality or integrity, and DoD data may be compromised due to weak algorithms. The use of TLS provides confidentiality of data in transit between the application server and client. FIPS 140-2 approved TLS versions include TLS V1.0 or greater. TLS must be enabled and non-FIPS-approved SSL versions must be disabled. NIST SP 800-52 specifies the preferred configurations for government systems. Satisfies: SRG-APP-000179-AS-000129, SRG-APP-000440-AS-000167, SRG-APP-000442-AS-000259, SRG-APP-000439-AS-000155, SRG-APP-000224-AS-000152, SRG-APP-000514-AS-000136, SRG-APP-000416-AS-000140

Personal Identity Verification (PIV) credentials are those credentials issued by federal agencies that conform to FIPS Publication 201 and supporting guidance documents. OMB Memorandum 11-11 requires federal agencies to continue implementing the requirements specified in HSPD-12 to enable agency-wide use of PIV credentials. PIV credentials are only used in an unclassified environment. Access may be denied to authorized users if federal agency PIV credentials are not accepted to access the management interface.

Class 3 PKI certificates are used for servers and software signing rather than for identifying individuals. Class 4 certificates are used for business-to-business transactions. Utilizing unapproved certificates not issued or approved by DoD or CNS creates an integrity risk. The application server must utilize approved DoD or CNS Class 3 or Class 4 certificates for software signing and business-to-business transactions.

The application server consists of the management interface and hosted applications. By separating the management interface from hosted applications, the user must authenticate as a privileged user to the management interface before being presented with management functionality. This prevents non-privileged users from having visibility to functions not available to the user. By limiting visibility, a compromised non-privileged account does not offer information to the attacker to functionality and information needed to further the attack on the application server. Application server management functionality includes functions necessary to administer the application server and requires privileged access via one of the accounts assigned to a management role. The hosted application and hosted application functionality consists of the assets needed for the application to function, such as the business logic, databases, user authentication, etc. The separation of application server administration functionality from hosted application functionality is either physical or logical and is accomplished by using different computers, different central processing units, different instances of the operating system, network addresses, network ports, or combinations of these methods, as appropriate.

This control focuses on communications protection at the session, versus packet level. At the application layer, session IDs are tokens generated by web applications to uniquely identify an application user's session. Web applications utilize session tokens or session IDs in order to establish application user identity. Proper use of session IDs addresses man-in-the-middle attacks, including session hijacking or insertion of false information into a session. Application servers must provide the capability to perform mutual authentication. Mutual authentication is when both the client and the server authenticate each other.

Untrusted Certificate Authorities (CA) can issue certificates, but they may be issued by organizations or individuals that seek to compromise DoD systems or by organizations with insufficient security controls. If the CA used for verifying the certificate is not a DoD-approved CA, trust of this CA has not been established. The DoD will only accept PKI certificates obtained from a DoD-approved internal or external certificate authority. Reliance on CAs for the establishment of secure sessions includes, for example, the use of SSL/TLS certificates. The application server must only allow the use of DoD PKI-established certificate authorities for verification.

DoS is a condition when a resource is not available for legitimate users. When this occurs, the organization either cannot accomplish its mission or must operate at degraded capacity. To reduce the possibility or effect of a DoS, the application server must employ defined security safeguards. These safeguards will be determined by the placement of the application server and the type of applications being hosted within the application server framework. There are many examples of technologies that exist to limit or, in some cases, eliminate the effects of DoS attacks (e.g., limiting processes or restricting the number of sessions the application opens at one time). Employing increased capacity and bandwidth, combined with service redundancy or clustering, may reduce the susceptibility to some DoS attacks.

A thread pool enables components of the application server to reuse threads, which eliminates the need to create new threads at run time. Creating new threads expends system resources and can possibly lead to a DoS. Perform loading for your application to determine the required thread pool sizes.

Export grade encryption suites are not strong and do not meet DoD requirements. The encryption for the session becomes easy for the attacker to break. Do not use export grade encryption. Information on disabling export ciphers can be found in Knowledge Center at this link: http://www.ibm.com/support/knowledgecenter/SS7K4U_8.5.5/com.ibm.websphere.ihs.doc/ihs/rihs_ciphspec.html

A Core Group (HA Domain) is a component of the high availability manager function. It can contain stand-alone servers, cluster members, node agents, administrative agents, and the deployment manager. Core groups rely on DCS, which uses a reliable multicast message (RMM) system for transport. RMM can use one of several wire transport technologies. Depending on your environment, sensitive information might be transmitted over DCS. For example, data in DynaCache and the security subject cache are transmitted using DCS. To ensure this, select a transport type of channel framework and DCS-Secure as channel chain for each core group. Be aware that DCS always authenticates messages when global security is enabled. Once the transport is encrypted, you then have a highly secure channel. Once you have done this, all services that rely on DCS are now using an encrypted and authenticated transport. Those services are DynaCache, memory-to-memory session replication, core groups, Web services caching, and stateful session bean persistence.

The Web server plug-in transmits information from the Web server to the Web container over HTTP by default. Extra steps must be taken to protect the traffic from the Web server to the Web container. To force the use of HTTPS for all traffic from the plug-in, disable the HTTP transport from the Web container on every application server and then regenerate and deploy the plug-in. WCInboundDefault and the HttpQueueInboundDefault transport chains must be disabled. At which time the plug-in can only use HTTPS and so it will use it for all traffic regardless of how the traffic arrived at the Web container.

By default, when updating WebSphere application server, the older version of binaries are saved in case a "roll back" is necessary. Not keeping the older version makes it more difficult for attackers to "revert" back to the older version.

Security vulnerabilities are often addressed by testing and applying the latest security patches and fix packs. Latest fixpacks can be found at: http://www-01.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?uid=swg27009661

Security flaws with software applications are discovered daily. Vendors are constantly updating and patching their products to address newly discovered security vulnerabilities. Organizations (including any contractor to the organization) are required to promptly install security-relevant software updates (e.g., patches, service packs, and hot fixes) to production systems after thorough testing of the patches within a lab environment. Flaws discovered during security assessments, continuous monitoring, incident response activities, or information system error handling must also be addressed expeditiously.