Getting my network audited

Discussion in 'other software & services' started by stryder83, Jul 5, 2005.

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  1. stryder83

    stryder83 Registered Member

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    Hi everyone,

    I was wondering how much I should expect to pay for a professional network audit from an outside company. An approximation would be sufficient, but if someone has a link for me it would be great.

    Thanks,
    Brandon
     
  2. Close_Hauled

    Close_Hauled Registered Member

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    Are you talking about a security audit? Also, we need to know how large your network is. How many computers, routers, etc.
     
  3. meneer

    meneer Registered Member

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    And: do you want a vulnerability scan of your network components only or of all systems?

    What's the purpose: is it for internal use or do you need it for external use (SOx, or whatever). In that case you might need a certified auditor to do the trick.
     
  4. stryder83

    stryder83 Registered Member

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    I apologize for not being more in depth.

    This audit is for internal use. There is roughly 85 assets (PC's and mobiles) that need to be audited. This is not a security audit - that is, the audit is only to evaluate what we have and what needs replacing to meet standards, etc. I also want software to be included, seeing as some of the company software is mandatory. An in depth hardware audit would be needed, as we want the company to be standard in regards to NIC's, CPU's, memory etc.

    Thanks,
    Brandon
     
  5. Close_Hauled

    Close_Hauled Registered Member

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    You can do this yourself with any one of the following:

    Novell ZENworks Suite
    Microsoft Systems Management Server (SMS)
    IBM Tivoli
    Hewlett-Packard OpenView
    LANDesk Management Suite (Formerly Intel LANDesk)

    Using these tools would be a better solution because it is an on going process. Microsoft rolls out new security patches once a month. Anti-virus is almost daily.
     
  6. stryder83

    stryder83 Registered Member

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    Thanks for the info Close Hauled.

    I have decided to do this myself, but now a new question arises - by doing this myself, how much am I actually saving the company?

    An approximate value would be good for my report.
     
  7. Close_Hauled

    Close_Hauled Registered Member

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    It depends on what you are looking for. If you are looking for known software installations, then it is doable. If you are looking for unknown software installations, then you are better off with a package that I mentioned.

    If you are a network administrator, and you are looking for versions of Office, Windows (known items that you want to keep up to date), then you can use BGInfo by Sysinternals (free). You can add BGInfo to the login script and it will create an Access database that you can generate reports from.

    I use it to collect serial numbers, MAC addresses, IP addresses, software versions, OS version, BIOS version, memory size, drive capacity, CPU, and much more. It is a very powerful little tool if you understand your systems and where on the systems to get the information.

    I think in your case, this is what you are interested in. You want to see what the users have and what needs to be updated. If you are looking for illegally installed, or unlicensed software, then this is not the route that you want to take.
     
  8. Close_Hauled

    Close_Hauled Registered Member

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    I do not know why I did not think of this earlier. You might want to look at Belarc's products as well. BelITsmart may be what you are looking for.
     
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