And welcome back.
In this video, I'd like to chat with you
about something super important regarding secure network
management.
And that is some accountability, some support, some oversight.
And that all comes to play if we follow good change management.
And I haven't always been a fan of change management.
In my early days in the-- like the 1985-'86 when I first got
into the world of IT--
I saw change management as, ah, there's
extras steps to go through.
But you know what, it only took me like six months WEBVTT X-TIMESTAMP-MAP=LOCAL:00:00:00.000,MPEGTS:900000
But you know what, it only took me like six months
to realize the value of change management
and having a formal procedure before we go in
and start making changes to our environment.
And I'd like to list a few of those benefits that
are going to help us keep secure and also keep our networks up.
The first thing I'd like to chat about
as far as the major benefit of change management
and change control is a second set of eyes.
And it may not just be a second set,
it may be a roomful of people.
And that's a good thing because the process--
the change management process--
may require us to have documentation. WEBVTT X-TIMESTAMP-MAP=LOCAL:00:00:00.000,MPEGTS:900000
may require us to have documentation.
Documentation, specifically, of what's
the window going to be where we're
going to implement this change?
What is the change itself?
Has it been tested?
Who tested it?
What's your rollback process?
Has it been tested?
Because when I think about network change,
I also think about, I think the doctor's creed is like,
do no harm, or the physician's creed.
We don't want to leave the network
worse off than we found it.
So in the change management, we'd
want to identify what we want to change, also,
the window we're going to do it in, and have WEBVTT X-TIMESTAMP-MAP=LOCAL:00:00:00.000,MPEGTS:900000
the window we're going to do it in, and have
a tested and verified rollback process that we can do and have
it back the way it was before we started within the change
window.
And regarding testing, if we have some new iOS
image or a new patch that's correcting a vulnerability
or adding some additional functionality,
we definitely want to make sure we tested that out
in our test environment and then get some backup.
So it's not just us saying, oh, yeah, it worked, it was great.
We want to have whatever that change management process is
of verifying a change before it's implemented to make sure WEBVTT X-TIMESTAMP-MAP=LOCAL:00:00:00.000,MPEGTS:900000
of verifying a change before it's implemented to make sure
that it's not going to cause harm or a security
vulnerability on the network by implementing this new thing
or this new configuration.
And a few elements that are important as they tie in
to change management is inventory.
So if we have an inventory system, including mobile device
management, where we know exactly what's on our network
and who's connecting, we know the versions of software,
then when we do have something that we need to change,
if it's an end device or a part of our network--
including where we need to update something
from a security vulnerability perspective-- WEBVTT X-TIMESTAMP-MAP=LOCAL:00:00:00.000,MPEGTS:900000
from a security vulnerability perspective--
we know exactly which devices in our infrastructure
need that update.
So that concept applies to end stations, switches, routers,
firewall appliances, and so forth.
So my coaching would be if your organization, large or small,
doesn't have a change management process,
I would say gently encourage that to start happening.
So in a big organization, it's very likely in place.
In a small company, maybe it's just you.
You're the IT person.
You wear all the hats.
Perhaps start a change management process
with the checkboxes. WEBVTT X-TIMESTAMP-MAP=LOCAL:00:00:00.000,MPEGTS:900000
with the checkboxes.
And that way, you're going to help keep yourself out
of trouble when it comes to implementing changes
on the network.
So thanks for joining me in this set of videos
about some good practices and security
processes regarding network management.
And I look forward to seeing you, my friend,
in the next set of videos.
Until then, I hope this has been informative for you.
And I'd like to thank you for viewing.