Network enclave

Last updated
Enclave Network Enclave.JPG
Enclave Network

A network enclave is a section of an internal network that is subdivided from the rest of the network. [1] [2]

Contents

Purpose

The purpose of a network enclave is to limit internal access to a portion of a network. It is necessary when the set of resources differs from those of the general network surroundings. [3] [4] Typically, network enclaves are not publicly accessible. Internal accessibility is restricted through the use of internal firewalls, VLANs, network admissions control and VPNs. [5]

Scenarios

Network Enclaves consist of standalone assets that do not interact with other information systems or networks. A major difference between a DMZ or demilitarized zone and a network enclave is a DMZ allows inbound and outbound traffic access, where firewall boundaries are traversed. In an enclave, firewall boundaries are not traversed. Enclave protection tools can be used to provide protection within specific security domains. These mechanisms are installed as part of an Intranet to connect networks that have similar security requirements. [6]

DMZ within an enclave

A DMZ can be established within an enclave to host publicly accessible systems. The ideal design is to build the DMZ on a separate network interface of the enclave perimeter firewall. All DMZ traffic would be routed through the firewall for processing and the DMZ would still be kept separate from the rest of the protected network.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Proxy server</span> Computer server that makes and receives requests on behalf of a user

In computer networking, a proxy server is a server application that acts as an intermediary between a client requesting a resource and the server providing that resource. It improves privacy, security, and performance in the process.

In computer security, a DMZ or demilitarized zone is a physical or logical subnetwork that contains and exposes an organization's external-facing services to an untrusted, usually larger, network such as the Internet. The purpose of a DMZ is to add an additional layer of security to an organization's local area network (LAN): an external network node can access only what is exposed in the DMZ, while the rest of the organization's network is protected behind a firewall. The DMZ functions as a small, isolated network positioned between the Internet and the private network.

Network security consists of the policies, processes and practices adopted to prevent, detect and monitor unauthorized access, misuse, modification, or denial of a computer network and network-accessible resources. Network security involves the authorization of access to data in a network, which is controlled by the network administrator. Users choose or are assigned an ID and password or other authenticating information that allows them access to information and programs within their authority. Network security covers a variety of computer networks, both public and private, that are used in everyday jobs: conducting transactions and communications among businesses, government agencies and individuals. Networks can be private, such as within a company, and others which might be open to public access. Network security is involved in organizations, enterprises, and other types of institutions. It does as its title explains: it secures the network, as well as protecting and overseeing operations being done. The most common and simple way of protecting a network resource is by assigning it a unique name and a corresponding password.

Internet security is a branch of computer security. It encompasses the Internet, browser security, web site security, and network security as it applies to other applications or operating systems as a whole. Its objective is to establish rules and measures to use against attacks over the Internet. The Internet is an inherently insecure channel for information exchange, with high risk of intrusion or fraud, such as phishing, online viruses, trojans, ransomware and worms.

An information security audit is an audit of the level of information security in an organization. It is an independent review and examination of system records, activities, and related documents. These audits are intended to improve the level of information security, avoid improper information security designs, and optimize the efficiency of the security safeguards and security processes. Within the broad scope of auditing information security there are multiple types of audits, multiple objectives for different audits, etc. Most commonly the controls being audited can be categorized as technical, physical and administrative. Auditing information security covers topics from auditing the physical security of data centers to auditing the logical security of databases, and highlights key components to look for and different methods for auditing these areas.

Community of interest is a means in which network assets and or network users are segregated by some technological means for some established purpose. COIs are a strategy that fall under the realm of computer security which itself is a subset of security engineering. Typically, COIs are set up to protect a network infrastructure from a group or groups of users who are performing some esoteric functions. COIs are also designed to protect their user community from the rest of the enclave user population. Not only does this refer to the simplicity of the network, but it also includes a group of people that come together on different social networks to share data. There are multiple examples such as Wikipedia, Facebook, Blogs, YouTube, and many more where people come together as a community of interest to work together towards a common goal, learn from each other, critique, and share ideas. These users and group of people are separated into categories and segregated into logical groups. There can be professional groups, health groups that include people interested in specific diets, business groups, self-start up groups, and so many other countless categories. A COI is a group of professionals and advisors that share business insights, technical expertise, challenges, and perspectives.

In computer networking, a firewall pinhole is a port that is not protected by a firewall to allow a particular application to gain access to a service on a host in the network protected by the firewall.

A unidirectional network is a network appliance or device that allows data to travel in only one direction. Data diodes can be found most commonly in high security environments, such as defense, where they serve as connections between two or more networks of differing security classifications. Given the rise of industrial IoT and digitization, this technology can now be found at the industrial control level for such facilities as nuclear power plants, power generation and safety critical systems like railway networks.

Defense in depth is a concept used in information security in which multiple layers of security controls (defense) are placed throughout an information technology (IT) system. Its intent is to provide redundancy in the event a security control fails or a vulnerability is exploited that can cover aspects of personnel, procedural, technical and physical security for the duration of the system's life cycle.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Screened subnet</span>

In network security a screened subnet refers to the use of one or more logical screening routers as a firewall to define three separate subnets: an external router, that separates the external network from a perimeter network, and an internal router that separates the perimeter network from the internal network. The perimeter network, also called a border network or demilitarized zone (DMZ), is intended for hosting servers that are accessible from or have access to both the internal and external networks. The purpose of a screened subnet or DMZ is to establish a network with heightened security that is situated between an external and presumed hostile network, such as the Internet or an extranet, and an internal network.

Data loss prevention (DLP) software detects potential data breaches/data exfiltration transmissions and prevents them by monitoring, detecting and blocking sensitive data while in use, in motion, and at rest.

Secure Computing Corporation (SCC) was a public company that developed and sold computer security appliances and hosted services to protect users and data. McAfee acquired the company in 2008.

A distributed firewall is a security application on a host machine of a network that protects the servers and user machines of its enterprise's networks against unwanted intrusion. A firewall is a system or group of systems that implements a set of security rules to enforce access control between two networks to protect the "inside" network from the "outside" network. They filter all traffic regardless of its origin—the Internet or the internal network. Usually deployed behind the traditional firewall, they provide a second layer of defense. The advantages of the distributed firewall allow security rules (policies) to be defined and pushed out on an enterprise-wide basis, which is necessary for larger enterprises.

A virtual firewall (VF) is a network firewall service or appliance running entirely within a virtualized environment and which provides the usual packet filtering and monitoring provided via a physical network firewall. The VF can be realized as a traditional software firewall on a guest virtual machine already running, a purpose-built virtual security appliance designed with virtual network security in mind, a virtual switch with additional security capabilities, or a managed kernel process running within the host hypervisor.

In computing, a firewall is a network security system that monitors and controls incoming and outgoing network traffic based on predetermined security rules. A firewall typically establishes a barrier between a trusted network and an untrusted network, such as the Internet.

A jump server, jump host or jump box is a system on a network used to access and manage devices in a separate security zone. A jump server is a hardened and monitored device that spans two dissimilar security zones and provides a controlled means of access between them. The most common example is managing a host in a DMZ from trusted networks or computers.

In information security, a guard is a device or system for allowing computers on otherwise separate networks to communicate, subject to configured constraints. In many respects a guard is like a firewall and guards may have similar functionality to a gateway.

The term Science DMZ refers to a computer subnetwork that is structured to be secure, but without the performance limits that would otherwise result from passing data through a stateful firewall. The Science DMZ is designed to handle high volume data transfers, typical with scientific and high-performance computing, by creating a special DMZ to accommodate those transfers. It is typically deployed at or near the local network perimeter, and is optimized for a moderate number of high-speed flows, rather than for general-purpose business systems or enterprise computing.

Port Control Protocol (PCP) is a computer networking protocol that allows hosts on IPv4 or IPv6 networks to control how the incoming IPv4 or IPv6 packets are translated and forwarded by an upstream router that performs network address translation (NAT) or packet filtering. By allowing hosts to create explicit port forwarding rules, handling of the network traffic can be easily configured to make hosts placed behind NATs or firewalls reachable from the rest of the Internet, which is a requirement for many applications.

A web application firewall (WAF) is a specific form of application firewall that filters, monitors, and blocks HTTP traffic to and from a web service. By inspecting HTTP traffic, it can prevent attacks exploiting a web application's known vulnerabilities, such as SQL injection, cross-site scripting (XSS), file inclusion, and improper system configuration.

References

  1. Northcutt, Stephen. "Protected Enclaves Defense-in-Depth". www.sans.edu. Archived from the original on 2019-03-06. Retrieved 2015-10-08.
  2. "Term:Enclave - FISMApedia". fismapedia.org. Retrieved 2015-10-08.
  3. "Network Enclaves – Enhanced Internal Network Segmentation | Where Trust is Key!". TrustCC blog. 2009-08-13. Archived from the original on 2013-02-13. Retrieved 2015-10-08.
  4. Rome, James. "Enclaves and Collaborative Domains web.oml.gov" (PDF). Enclaves and Collaborative Domains.
  5. "Protected Enclaves Defense-in-Depth". www.sans.edu. Retrieved 2015-10-08.
  6. "THE ROLE OF FIREWALLS AND GUARDS IN ENCLAVE BOUNDARY PROTECTION".