Chapter 11 - Securing Internet Information Services 5.0

Abstract

The world has become digital, and companies are now spending more money developing their e-commerce strategies than ever before. Many companies do not even maintain a physical storefront; they do all their business online. Companies depend on their Web servers to present them to the Internet community. Securing a Web server can be very complicated. This chapter discusses methods to secure a Windows 2000 server running Internet Information Services (IIS) 5.0. IIS is Microsoft's Web server product and can only be installed on a computer running one of the Microsoft Server products (Server, Advanced Server, or Data Center Server). Windows 2000 Professional has its own version of IIS called Peer Web Services (PWS). A number of steps go into securing a Web server. First, one needs to secure the server physically. Next, one needs to secure the operating system. Finally, one can begin to secure the IIS component itself. This chapter shows how to configure the server to accommodate one's needs. It describes where to set all these options and discusses what each of these options mean and when they can be used. The chapter also focuses on some of the tools that Microsoft provides to make it easier to configure these settings.