Common Pitfalls in IT Infrastructure: Mistakes, Best Practices, and Security

In today’s fast-paced digital landscape, an organization’s IT infrastructure is its backbone. However, many businesses fall into common pitfalls that can compromise efficiency, security, and overall performance. In honor of the holiday today, let’s explore some of these mistakes, best practices to avoid them, and key security considerations.

Common Mistakes

1. Neglecting Documentation: Many IT teams skip detailed documentation, leading to confusion during troubleshooting or transitions. Without clear records, knowledge is lost when staff leave or change roles.
2. Ignoring Regular Updates: Outdated software and hardware can create vulnerabilities. Failing to apply updates and patches not only exposes systems to security risks but can also lead to compatibility issues.
3. Overlooking Capacity Planning: As businesses grow, their infrastructure needs evolve. Underestimating future demands can result in performance bottlenecks, while over-provisioning can lead to unnecessary costs.

Best Practices

1. Comprehensive Documentation: Create and maintain thorough documentation of your IT infrastructure, including network diagrams, configuration details, and standard operating procedures. This ensures continuity and eases onboarding for new team members.
2. Regular Maintenance and Updates: Establish a schedule for routine updates and maintenance. Automate where possible to ensure your systems are always up to date without overwhelming your team.
3. Capacity Planning and Scalability: Conduct regular assessments of your infrastructure to anticipate growth. Invest in scalable solutions that can grow with your organization, preventing disruptions in service.

Security Considerations

1. Implement a Multi-Layered Security Approach: Relying solely on perimeter defenses isn’t enough. Use a combination of firewalls, intrusion detection systems, and regular security audits to create multiple layers of protection.
2. Educate and Train Employees: Human error is a significant factor in security breaches. Regular training on best practices, phishing awareness, and proper data handling can reduce vulnerabilities caused by user mistakes.
3. Backup and Recovery Plans: Ensure that you have robust backup solutions and disaster recovery plans in place. Regularly test these systems to confirm that you can quickly recover from data loss incidents.

Quick Wins

What are a few things you can do today that will improve the quality and stability of your infrastructure?

Stop using NTP pools.

Using pool.ntp.org as a time source can lead to reliability issues due to its distributed nature. Since it aggregates multiple NTP servers from various locations, there’s no guarantee of consistent uptime or accuracy, which can be problematic for critical applications requiring precise timekeeping. Additionally, relying on a public NTP pool exposes your infrastructure to potential security risks, such as DDoS attacks or man-in-the-middle exploits. For organizations needing stable and secure time synchronization, it’s better to opt for dedicated, trusted NTP servers or implement your own internal time server.

Using Dedicated NTP Servers

Review the list of NTP servers from NIST here: https://tf.nist.gov/tf-cgi/servers.cgi you can even apply for access to their authenticated servers which provide secure communication and validation of time sources. Most universities and governments have NTP servers available for public use.

I encourage companies that have a significant investment in their infrastructure to purchase and maintain their own time servers for their availability zones. These are an inexpensive but crucial component to maintaining consistent and accurate time across the network that is not reliant on any outside services other than GPS satellite connectivity.

You can host your own NTP servers with the addition of inexpensive GPS receivers to a computer as small as a Raspberry Pi. I’ll be writing up more on this soon.

Collect Syslogs

Centralized syslog collection plays a crucial role in security. It enables real-time monitoring for suspicious activities, helping teams detect potential threats before they escalate. Additionally, many industries have regulatory requirements regarding data retention and auditing.

A centralized logging system can streamline compliance efforts by providing a single source for generating reports and ensuring logs are securely stored and easily accessible.

Syslog collection can be done with off the shelf software or open source software:

Deploy a Honeypot

Deploying a honeypot is a proactive security strategy that can significantly enhance your organization’s defenses. A honeypot acts as a decoy, luring potential attackers away from valuable assets by simulating vulnerable systems.

Most honeypots can be deployed on a virtual machine or hardware that is end of useful life.

This not only helps to divert malicious activity but also allows security teams to observe attack patterns and techniques in real-time. By analyzing this data, organizations can gain insights into emerging threats and improve their overall security posture. Additionally, honeypots can serve as an effective tool for testing incident response plans, helping teams to prepare for real-world attacks. Ultimately, investing in a honeypot strengthens defenses while providing invaluable intelligence to stay one step ahead of cybercriminals.

One of my favorites is called TPot and is available for free here: https://github.com/telekom-security/tpotce

Deploy it in the DMZ and open all the ports to it from a public IP and watch the bots begin automated probing and attacks almost immediately.