Chapter 4 - Secure Networking Using Windows 2000 Distributed Security Services

Abstract

Windows 2000's security protocols are different; they are part of what is known as the software's distributed services. Distributed services are those components that are spread, or distributed, throughout the network and that are highly dependent on one another. The high-profile member of this group of Windows 2000 subsystems is Active Directory, but the Windows 2000 security subsystem is another of the operating system's distributed services. In fact, in keeping with the interdependency of the distributed services, there is a fundamental relationship between the Active Directory service and Windows 2000's security subsystem. This chapter examines in detail Windows 2000's distributed security services with the focus on how intimately the security and directory services are intertwined and how Active Directory's objects can be secured in a granular manner that was never possible in Windows NT. It also discusses the security protocols and the role and function of each. The chapter focuses the special area of Internet security and the Windows 2000 distributed security subsystem's added level of protection from unauthorized outside access.