Steve’s AIX Top Ten

Security Steve’s Top Ten AIX Security Tools

In no particular order, the following is my general recommendation for the 10 most important security tools that you should be using in your AIX environment.  Each tool provides important and unique capabilities that are essential to achieving a Defense in Depth security strategy for your AIX environment.  Teri Radichel states in her case study of the Target’s 2013 Data Breach, “Case Study: Critical Controls that Could Have Prevented Target Breach”, the following:

“Businesses should not rely on a single security tool or process to prevent data loss or harm to the business.  Layers of defenses including preventative and detective measures should be employed.  Due to the complex nature of security and the persistence of the adversary, detection is crucial. A detailed understanding of networks, hardware, software and processes is required to create a comprehensive plan. Using the Critical Controls (the 20 Center for Internet Security Critical Controls) to implement layers of security helps thwart attacks by guarding against the many different ways attackers gain access to systems.”

These are the 10 most important AIX security tools that should be evaluated for use by all organizations using AIX:

1.  AIX Role Based Access Control (RBAC)
2. AIX Trusted Execution (TE)
3.  PowerSC Security and Compliance Automation
4.  PowerSC Real Time Compliance (RTC)
5.  PowerSC Graphical User Interface
6.  File Permission Manager – (FPM)
7.  LDAP Services using IBM Tivoli Directory Server with Pass-through Authentication
8.  Multi-factor Authentication at the Network
9.  AIX Auditing
10. AIX Stack Execution Disable (SED)

The Most Important Tool?

You may ask, “What’s the most important tool?”.  Well to be perfectly honest, the most important “tool” isn’t even on my top ten list!  In general, your most important “tool” for reducing your organization’s security risk is not actually going to be a tool but a consulting service, the AIX Security Assessment.  Let me explain:

The AIX Security Assessment service provided by IBM Lab Services provides a comprehensive analysis of how you are implementing AIX Security in your organization.  The assessment provides numerous suggestions for improving your security and reducing the security risk of your organization.

Improving your security requires making strategic decisions on what security layers you believe will best protect your organization.  And this is why the service is invaluable.  The service allows you to get professional advice on what is the smartest plan for reducing your organization’s information security risk. For more information about IBM Lab Services’ AIX Security Assessment service, click here