Exchange 2000 Security an Overview

Exchange 2000 is a Microsoft premier messaging product, with over 100 million licenses sold throughout the world1. Securing this product is a challenge for any administrator. Proper administration requires both knowledge of the product and understanding of security policies involved. Exchange 2000 product information is scatted and locating them becomes a time consuming tasks. The intent here is to facilitate the life of these administrators by offering them with a summary of settings, potential issues, and general security awareness that will best secure their environment. Policy, server design, and limitations of Exchange 2000 are also considered. Default settings such as 'anonymous' access clear text password and default ACL granting full rights to everyone that can cause serious problems and they are carefully examined and detailed resolutions are provided. Most importantly considerations of viruses' breakout and methods of preventions are also illustrated with details. Finally cost effective implementations of Exchange 2000 security and policies are also reviewed. Risk management against cost analysis is recommended so that organizations give considerable attention and direct proper resources for protecting their assets.