S 2.108 Relinquishment of remote maintenance of ISDN gateways

Initiation responsibility: Head of IT Section, IT Security Management

Implementation responsibility: Administrators

Relinquishment of remote maintenance is a useful way of preventing external parties from manipulating ISDN routers and IT systems equipped with ISDN cards.

In the case of IT systems equipped with an ISDN card, a check is required as to whether the communications software in use offers a "remote control" function. This function allows the IT system to be called via a public network: The ISDN card accepts the call, and the caller can then operate the IT system as though he/she were present on-location. If this function is present, it must be deactivated.

In the case of ISDN routers, the remote maintenance via reserved bandwidths (or reserved ISDN call numbers) function should be deactivated because, in this case, links established with the management information base of the router are usually just protected by a password, and allow almost all configuration settings to be modified.

Additional controls:

• Which reasons speak for and which reasons speak against the relinquishment of remote maintenance?

• Has a corresponding decision on remote maintenance been made?