Information Security: Securing a Network Device with Passwords to Protect Information

Information security is a complex and critical subject, conventionally only tackled by well-trained and experienced professionals. The importance of an effective password policy at the device level is obvious and often entire networks can be brought down due to the lack of simple password security on a single device. Typically, there are numerous devices on a network but the router is at the heart of any network which connects Local Area Networks (LANs) to the outside world (Internet). The Internet is essentially a collection of different Internet Service Providers (ISPs) and routers using Border Gateway Protocol (BGP) providing connectivity between different ISPs around the globe. The Internet is expanding at an enormous speed and secure exchange of information is needed by organisations and individuals alike. This paper emphasises the need for an effective device-level password security as an essential component of a more comprehensive organisational security policy. As an illustration, a practical implementation of effective password security is carried out using one of the most widely deployed routers in the industry.