McDewey

C H A P T E R 27 Operating System and Security Hardening • Security Hardening, on page 295 Security Hardening Unified Communications Manager runs as a virtual machine on top of virtualized hardware based on VMware vSphere ESXi. Unlike conventional server-based products, Unified Communications Manager is a software product distributed as a closed-system, turnkey-packaged, “appliance” workload, which: • Reduces the attack surface • Provides a more stable, higher performance configuration • Avoids vulnerabilities from configuration errors • Simplifies administration and corrective maintenance without requiring OS / DB skill sets Highlights of Unified Communications Manager workload-layer hardening include: • Unified Communications Manager isn't a general-purpose / open-system workload. • It doesn't use a general-purpose OS distribution. • Unused modules are excluded from the image and unused services are disabled / removed. • We make proprietary hardening changes to specific modules (for example, OpenSSL is hardened by Cisco’s Security and Trust Organization; the resulting CiscoSSL is incorporated into the product). • Native interfaces to guest Operating System, Database, runtime, and other workload software components are not exposed. • They are either removed or hidden and locked-down. • Access is only through Cisco-provided browser-based GUI, CLI, or API, with various mechanisms to secure those interfaces (e.g., CLI via SSH, or pull files into workload via Secure FTP). • The product comprises a carefully controlled stack that contains all software required to operate, maintain, secure, and manage the application. We specify, install and update all this software through images provided and digitally signed by Cisco. Security Guide for Cisco Unified Communications Manager, Release 15 and SUs 295