Hardening Cisco Router

Cisco systems is the major manufacturer and provider of the WAN devices such as Routers and switches.  Being a network administrator or the IT manager you must know the importance of the security in the computer networking.  Hardening the Cisco routers refer to protecting them from the internal and external security related threats such as hackers attacks, unauthorized user access, DDOS attacks, viruses and other security vulnerabilities.  In this article you will learn that how to secure the Cisco Router by using the following tips and techniques.

• Use the Line Password, Privileged mode passwords and username passwords.
• Line passwords are configured on the Console Line, VTY Lines, Aux Line and Async line.
• Stop the unnecessary protocols and services on the Cisco Routers.
• Limit the access of the users only to the limited resources.

• Enable logging and check the security logs to analyze the security threats in your network.
• Monitor your server room and office premises with the video surveillance system.
• Se the Authentication, authorization and accounting control.
• Enable the global security features on your Cisco router.
• Set the Router warning banner.
• Enable firewall and filter and monitor the inbound and outbound traffic.
• Enable the security for RIP, OSPF, EIGRP, NTP, and BGP protocols.
• Encrypt the communication between two or more routers.
• Update the IOS and make sure that you are using the exact version.
• Set the security for SNMP.
• Set the anti spoofing.
• Limit the IP redirect broadcast.

The above tips and techniques will help you to harden your Cisco routers and protect them from the internal and external security threats.