Securing Your Computer

This section provides information about all the software and instruction necessary to comply with the Desktop and Portable Computer Standard. The software on this page is intended for use by students, faculty, and staff at RIT. Inexperienced/non-technical users may want to check out our Digital Self Defense 101 Workshop, which explains the dangers of the Internet and RIT security requirements in greater detail.

Server Security Standard

The Server Standard provides requirements for server configuration and use at RIT.

A list of ISO-approved security assessment tools, HIPS programs, secure protocols, and a sample trespassing banner can be found in the Technical Resources

What does the standard apply to?

All servers (including production, training, test, and development) and the operating systems, applications, and databases as defined by this standard.

The standard does not apply to individual student-owned servers or faculty-assigned student servers for projects; however, administrators of these servers are encouraged to meet the Server Standard.

Recommended Strong Authentication Practices

The RIT Information Security... ...

Forms, Checklists, and Templates

Many forms and checklists below are provided as Adobe PDF Fill-in forms and can be filled in and printed from Acrobat Reader. 

NOTE: These forms may contain Javascript. If you need a different format, please contact the RIT Information Security Office at Infosec@rit.edu or call 585-475-4123.

Client input filtering is needed to prevent specific attacks.

Cross Site Scripting (XSS)

Cross-site scripting vulnerabilities allow malicious attackers to take advantage of web server scripts written in languages such as PHP, ASP, .NET, Perl or Java that do not adequately filter data sent along with page requests to inject JavaScript or HTML code that is executed on the client-side browser. These flaws occur anywhere a web application uses input from a user in the output it generates without validating it. Any type of variable that comes from a user or comes from a place where you do not control... ...

Note: This requirement applies only to RIT-owned and leased computers. There is currently no requirement for personally-owned machines to run host intrusion prevention.

Currently, personal networking devices used on the RIT residential network (such as routers, switches, etc.) do not need to meet the Network Security Standard. Resnet has created separate guidelines for Using a Router/Wireless Router on the RIT Network.

The following products have all been tested by the Information Security Office and approved for use on RIT-owned/leased computers.

Recommended Host-based Intrusion Prevention Software

Server