There are two primary
(and related) security concerns relating to communicating with the CheckPoint
License Server:
- Point to point security
of the information -
It is highly recommended that you use SSL to secure any and
all communication with the CheckPoint License Server. This
ensures security of the information passed between the server and the
caller (some other part of your back end). In
this way, you can be assured that even if packets were intercepted by
an attacker - they would be unable to use the information to directly
access the CheckPoint License Server.
Keep in mind that proxy servers generally can not act as a proxy for
HTTPS (SSL) communication. HTTPS
requires a secure handshake from point-to-point to enable its secure communications.
A proxy
server can not be in between the two participants (client and server)
of an SSL communication. Most enterprises that use proxy servers allow
direct outbound SSL communication for the workstations (default port 443)
to allow SSL communication to work. If
you are deploying your CheckPoint Server to be accessible via HTTPS only,
be sure to take this into account when managing proxy server information
for your clients.
- Brute force attacks
- It is highly recommended that you configure an upstream router or fire
wall from your CheckPoint License Server to not forward requests from
a specific requester if a large number of them come in from the same requester
over a short period of time. This
allows you to effectively block programmatic authentication attacks or
denial of service attacks on either of the CheckPoint interfaces. Most
production quality fire-wall software has this feature.
Note:
The SoftwareShield CheckPoint™ License Server only comes with the Server
Edition of the SoftwareShield System.