Cisco Network Security Services
Today I will discuss about Cisco Network Security issue. Switches can have a number of network services enabled. Many of these services are typically not necessary for a switch’s normal operation; however if these services are enabled then the switch may be susceptible to information gathering or to network attacks. The characteristics or the poor configuration of the network services on a switch can lead to compromise. Most of these services use one of the following transport mechanisms at Layer 4 of the OSI RM: Transmission Control Protocol (TCP) and User Datagram Protocol (UDP).
If possible, instead of using a network service (e.g., telnet) to perform in-band management of a switch, use out-of-band management (e.g., via the console port) for each switch. Out-of-band management reduces the exposure of configuration information and passwords better than in-band management.[bodyads]
- 1. Unnecessary Network Services
If possible, disable each unnecessary network service on each switch. The following Cisco Network Security commands will disable services of concern. In some cases, the Cisco Network Security commands affect the switch globally, while in other cases the commands affect only a single interface.
Below is an example for the set of interfaces that includes GigabitEthernet 6/1 through 6/3.
SWITCH(config)# interface range gigabitethernet 6/1 – 3
- 1.1. TCP and UDP Small Servers – TCP/UDP Ports 7, 9, 13, 19
Cisco provides support for “small servers” (e.g., echo, discard, daytime and chargen). Two of these servers, echo and chargen, can be used in denial-of-service attacks against one or more switches. These services can be disabled using the following Cisco Network Security commands.
SWITCH(config)# no service tcp-small-servers
SWITCH(config)# no service udp-small-servers

