Security Considerations; Community Strings; Dial-Up Connections - Nortel Passport 4400 Using Manual

Refer to
additional software that is required to run Install Tool.

Security Considerations

There are two security-related issues to consider when planning your
Passport 4400 device management operations.

Community Strings

The Passport 4400 uses SNMP Version 1 for all of its device management
operations (configuring, monitoring, resetting, and so forth). SNMP Version 1
uses community strings to control access to devices in a network. Since these are
simple text strings, they are relatively insecure.
You can use the Passport 4400 Configurator or the Passport 4400 CLI to change
your community strings. Install Tool allows you to specify a node's community
string (password) when you establish a connection with the node, but it does not
include a provision to change the community string.

Dial-Up Connections

The Passport 4400 provides a PPP stack, thereby enabling access to Passport 4400
nodes through dial-up connections. This PPP implementation does not provide
authentication controls. Therefore, if you connect a modem to a Passport 4400 to
support a dial-up connection, that node becomes accessible to any remote host that
knows the phone number of the modem and the community string of that node.
Furthermore, any host that successfully connects to a dial-up port can potentially
gain access to all devices that are visible to the Passport 4400.
It is recommended that you take appropriate measures to protect your network
from unauthorized access. For example:
• If you access a Passport 4400 through a dial-up connection, disconnect the
modem from the Passport 4400 at the completion of your session.
• Consider using a dial-back modem rather than a dial-up modem.
"What the Installation Procedure Does" on page 36
Using Passport 4400 Install Tool Version 4.2
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