Security Articles

Q: Can I store my Encrypting File System (EFS) private key on my smart card?

Jan De Clercq — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 13:00:00 GMT

By Jan De Clercq
With Windows Server 2008, Windows Vista, and later, you can store EFS private keys on users’ smart cards and control these settings with Group Policy.

Q: How can I disable or enable the Windows Firewall for a specific network connection?

Jan De Clercq — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 13:00:00 GMT

By Jan De Clercq
You can control specific network connections through the Microsoft Management Console (MMC) Windows Firewall with Advanced Security snap-in.

Q: Can we disable the default Windows administrative shares (C$, D$, Admin$, IPC$) to lock down some of our Windows servers?

Jan De Clercq — Sun, 29 Jan 2012 11:00:00 GMT

By Jan De Clercq
You can remove the administrative shares on Windows servers and prevent them from being created automatically, although Microsoft doesn’t recommend it.

Q: How can I find out if my clients are using NTLM for authentication instead of Kerberos against specific Windows servers, applications, or services?

Jan De Clercq — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 16:14:18 GMT

By Jan De Clercq
These new Group Policy settings can help you audit, analyze, and restrict NTLM authentication use in your Windows environment.