Your company's network just finished going through a SAS 70 audit. This audit reported that overall, your network is secure, but there are some areas that needs improvement. The major area was SNMP security. The audit company recommended turning off SNMP, but that is not an option since you have so many remote nodes to keep track of. What step could you take to help secure SNMP on your network?
To improve SNMP security on your network, you should change the default community string names. SNMP (Simple Network Management Protocol) uses community strings as passwords to control access to network devices. The default community strings, such as 'public' for read-only access and 'private' for read-write access, are widely known and can be easily exploited by attackers. By changing these default strings to strong and unique passwords, you greatly enhance the security and integrity of your SNMP-managed network.
Meta AI The correct answer is D. Change the default community string names. SNMP (Simple Network Management Protocol) uses community strings as passwords to authenticate access to network devices. The default community strings are well-known ("public" for read-only access and "private" for read-write access), making them easily guessable by attackers. Changing the default community string names to strong, unique passwords will significantly improve SNMP security.