Security Server Administrator Verification Questions¶
Security checklist¶
What is it?¶
Here are listed various check questions, answering which will help you understand the important points of safe X-Road use.
| Control question | What is the danger here? |
|---|---|
| Is your security server running the latest version of X-Road software? | Out-of-date software may contain security vulnerabilities that could allow an attacker to exploit your security server. Unupdated software may experience software errors that prevent data exchange. If the version is very old, ADEL support may not be able to resolve your issues. |
| Have you configured communication between the information system and the security server to HTTPS and mTLS? | The security server does not validate that the incoming request was sent by the correct application and not by a malicious attacker. The application does not validate that the response sent to it was sent by your security server and not by a malicious attacker. |
| Is access to security server ports 8080 and 8443 restricted on your external network? | Any application from the external network can attempt to make X-Road requests through your security server and on behalf of your organization. |
| Is there limited access to security server ports 8080 and 8443 on your internal network? | Any application on the intranet can make X-Road requests through your security server. If any application on your internal network has been hacked, the attacker can use it to make X-Road requests through your security server. |
| Does your security server have network-based access restrictions to port 4000? | Any visitor can log in to your security server's admin interface via port 4000 in the security server software. Access to port 4000 should only be granted to those individuals whose task is to administer the security server. The number of login attempts is not limited by the X-Road software. |
| Does your security server machine only have security server software installed? | Extraneous and unnecessary software for the security server can negatively affect the operation of the security server and add new attack vectors through which a hacker can break in. |
| Is your security server monitored? | In the absence of automatic monitoring, you may only find out about a security server malfunction when real damage has already occurred. |
| Are your security server message logs stored? | If message logs are not stored, it may not be possible to record which messages (requests/responses) were exchanged. Storing message logs allows you to record what queries were made and what their responses were. This adds an important element of evidence to X-Road data exchange, as the message logs are time-stamped and signed with the institution's e-stamp certificate. |
| Is your security server's computer clock correct? | There may be a time difference between the actual time and the security server logs. |
| Is your security server recovery plan regularly tested? | Due to the lack of an up-to-date recovery plan for the security server, the data exchange interruption may last significantly longer than it would be necessary to restore the existing security server to resolve it. |
| Is your security server accessible to ADEL monitoring? | If the ADEL central monitoring security servers cannot collect data, you will not be able to see the usage reports of your subsystems, and in the event of technical failures of the security server, ADEL support will have to request more data from you. |