How to Use the Vista system group policy to ensure the security of USB devices?

Group PolicyWhat is it? What are the skills of Group Policy in Windows Vista? A detailed explanation is provided below.

The most common cause for a group policy is its name, which is not a method for applying a policy to a group! In contrast, a group policy links a group policy to an Active Directory container (usually an organizational unit, but also a domain or site) objects are implemented in individual or individual user accounts and computer accounts. The Group Policy object here is the set of policy settings.

Although it is not an excellent network security solution to restrict removable devices by using group policies, because a user who has already installed storage devices (such as a USB driver, you can continue to use it. However, we can still make some minor settings that allow you to restrict specific removable storage devices through the device ID.

It is hard to say which security threat has the greatest impact on your network data. For several reasons, I tend to think that removable storage devices, especially USB drivers, should be at the top of the list. Cause 1: USB storage devices are easily ignored. The second reason: there is a simple fact that you can store large amounts of data (such as up to 4 GB of data) to a USB drive, this means that users can bring the same large applications to the Enterprise. It also means that users can take up to 4 GB of data away from the Enterprise. Any data that users can access can be easily copied to these drives. In addition, the USB device itself is very small, which allows users to conveniently bring it into and out of the enterprise.

I have talked with some network administrators about the security risks of USB storage devices. However, the most common practice for these network administrators is to disable the USB port on the workstation. Some newer machines allow you to disable USB ports through BIOS, but most old machines do not provide this capability. In this case, another solution is the most commonly used, that is, to block the USB port with a tape.

Although these methods can play a certain role, they all have some shortcomings. For the operator, these methods are "labor-intensive", that is, they are too difficult to implement. Another problem is that disabling the USB port does not completely solve the problem of user access to removable media. You can easily use FireWire hard drive and removable DVD drive as another option.

Among all these methods, the biggest drawback is that permanently disabling the USB port will make the user unable to use the USB device and make these ports not accessible to the user. In addition, sometimes there are some legitimate reasons for the USB port to be available. For example, some jobs require users to have a USB scanner connected to their PC.

Fortunately, an important goal of Microsoft's Windows Vista (and its famous Windows Server 2008 (Longhorn) is to provide administrators with better control over how the workstation uses hardware. Now we can use group policies to control the access to the mobile device.

The group policy setting that limits access to USB storage devices is currently only available in Windows Vista. Currently, this means that you can only set group policies at the level of the local computer. After Windows Server 2008 is released, you can set these group policies in the domain, site, or OU level (if you have a domain controller of Windows Server 2008 ).

To access the required Group Policy settings, you must open the "Group Policy Object Editor ). Therefore, click "Start", "All Programs", and "Accessories" (the English operating system is Start/All Programs/Accessories, and I use the English system ). Next, enter the MMC command. This enables Windows to open an empty Microsoft Management Console ). After opening it on the console, select Add/Remove Snap-In from the File menu ). Select the Group Policy Object option from the management unit list, and click Add. By default, this management unit is connected to the Local Computer policy. Therefore, click OK and click Finish.

The local computer policy is mounted to the console. Now, navigate to Computer Configuration, management template, System, Device Installation, and Device Installation Restrictions (Computer Configuration Administrative Templates System Device Installation Restrictions ). In this case, the details pane displays several restrictions related to the installation of hardware devices, as shown in:

There are many settings related to device installation restrictions. These settings are not necessarily and specifically associated with removable devices, but are generally associated with hardware devices. The basic idea here is that if you restrict the user from installing the device, it will block any device that you have not enabled.

For more information about removable devices, pay special attention to the following two policy settings: "Allow Administrators to overwrite Device Installation Restrictions" (Allow Administrators to Override Device Installation Restrictions ), if you implement any device restriction settings, You need to enable this setting. Otherwise, the administrator cannot install any new hardware on the workstation.

The second important setting is "Prevent Installation of Removable Devices" (Prevent Installation of Removable Devices ). If you have enabled this setting, you cannot install removable devices. If a user has already used a Removable device in the system, there will be a driver for this Removable device, so the user will continue to use it. However, the user will never update the driver of the device.

There are still many security measures we can set through Windows Vista group policies, and more knowledge about group policies will be available for further exploration and discovery.