Company Brief

Introduction: Linkchain Gaming Linkchain Gaming is a medium-sized game development company based in the UK. Following a recent cyber security attack from a disgruntled employee, it is looking to improve its network security and to modernise its enterprise network. The company has 50 employees, including a small IT team comprised of four staff members. The company has embraced remote and hybrid working with many staff members working from home full time and using shared workstations when they are required to attend the office. 

Physical security:

The office is based in a busy city centre with its main door to the office being located on a public high street. To access the office, employees can use a 4-digit Personal Identification Number (PIN) code (1996) to unlock the door. Guests can access the building by pressing a doorbell and waiting for a staff member to unlock the door. On the ground floor there is the main entrance to the building including a short corridor which leads to a staircase and a lift that provides access to the first floor where employee working spaces are located. On the ground floor there is also a fire door at the rear of the office. The ground floor contains the server room and a shared workstation area for employees to use. To access the shared workstation area employees must go through the server room, which requires the use of a 4-digit PIN code (1996) for access. Employees often complain that the server room and ground floor shared workstation areas are warm, so they are encouraged to use the four windows that can be opened to provide additional airflow if needed. The windows use a standard opening mechanism. All four windows are left unlocked so that employees can open them as required. Additionally, shared workstation area users on the ground floor are not currently provided with network ports and must use the wireless connection. Several employees have complained about slow wireless connections on the ground floor. There are fire doors at the rear of the building on every floor. On the ground floor there is an additional fire door in the server room at the front of the building. This fire door is always locked to improve security. The fire door on the first floor is used by employees to provide quick access to a nearby coffee shop; the fire alarm has been disabled for this door to prevent frequent fire alarms. Visitors to the office are expected to sign a visitor book that is at the front desk on the first floor. This area is no longer served by a receptionist as the company made the decision to make that role redundant to save costs and staff are expected to ensure their visitors sign in and out of the building. On the first floor, the management team (four staff) each have their own office while there is also an office for the IT team. All other staff can book shared workstations using an online platform. The office contains a large meeting room. There is currently one network cable in the meeting room that staff can plug in to their laptop to access the network. A kitchen and toilets are also provided for employees to use. The management team have identified a need for physical security measures. They would like these measures to be easy to implement, cost effective and improve the physical security of the company.  

IT systems:

 All server-based infrastructure is currently housed internally so the IT team can control and maintain it. The server room contains everything that is required for employees to access software and files as well as hosting the company email system. Shared workstation areas are provided for remote staff working from the office. All remote staff are provided with Windows laptops. Typical IT resources include: • ground floor: o 1 x file server o 1 x mail exchange server (email server) o 1 x VPN server o 1 x router o 1 x switch (core) o shared workstation area with wireless access only. • first floor: o 4 x IT staff computers (2 x Windows, 2 x Linux) o 12 x network floor ports within shared workstation area o 1 x wireless access point (WAP) o 1 x wired network printer o 1 x colour printer (connected to wireless network) o 4 x manager computers (Windows). 

Process and procedures:

As a growing company, Linkchain Gaming is aware that it needs to improve its processes, policies, and procedures to ensure a secure network environment. Several policies have been created using generic templates that are not specific to a games development company. It has some procedures in place, such as those for a new employee starting with the company and offboarding employees when they leave. 

Cloud services:

Currently, Linkchain Gaming does not implement cloud services due to previous concerns about the security and storage of data on platforms that are not under its control. Users connect to shared network drives and folders from home using a virtual private network (VPN) connection. 

Backups:

Full data backups are taken weekly. Backups are placed directly on a USB hard drive and are stored at home by a member of the IT team. This is to ensure that the backup is not damaged or stolen in the event of an issue at the office. 

Laptops:

All staff are issued with a company laptop. When staff work in the office, they connect either to the wired or wireless network on the first floor or the wireless network on the ground floor, at a shared workstation, providing them access to company resources. When staff work from home, they must connect via a VPN to access company resources. Due to licensing restrictions (20 VPN user licenses), staff are encouraged to download required resources, then disconnect from the VPN, before reconnecting and uploading changed resources when complete. Staff sign in to their laptop using a username and password: • username: in the format first initial + surname (for example: jbloggs) • password: the password for all new users is set to Password1 It is recommended that staff change their password when they first receive their laptop and then change it every 90 days. It is also recommended that employees do not use their name or username as their password. All users are given full administrative access to their laptops, to reduce requests for support and encourage developers and other staff members to find new tools and applications to use in their role. 

Mobile phones:

Staff are encouraged to use their personal mobile phones for work purposes. Staff are paid a contribution to their personal mobile phone contracts. 

ID cards:

All staff are issued with a photographic ID card at induction. The ID cards are smartcards, though this functionality has not been implemented by Linkchain Gaming. 

Wireless network access:

The office contains a single wireless network. The passphrase required to access the network is posted on a noticeboard at the front desk. Visitors are encouraged to connect to this network. Staff using shared workstations on the first floor complain that they often do not get a wireless signal and need to go under the desks to retrieve the network cable to connect. Users often report that the wireless colour printer located near the managers’ offices cannot be found on the network. 

Users:

Due to the nature of the company and most staff being developers, content on the file server is available to all employees. 

IT team:

The IT team consists of a network manager, one network support technician, and two IT support apprentices. Staff can access IT support through a dedicated email inbox and by calling the IT support phone number. The IT support apprentices log these calls manually in a spreadsheet. 

Staff training:

During induction all staff are encouraged to watch a short, pre-recorded presentation that was created four years ago by the network manager. They are provided several policies including a computer misuse policy and clear desk policy in their induction pack.   

Problem identified: 

The network manager has highlighted to senior management that there has been a rise in cyber security attacks across the industry. The network manager is concerned about how well Linkchain Gaming would cope if it was victim to a serious attack. The network manager and management team are particularly concerned with the lack of policies in place and that several current procedures are not secure, especially after the recent incident involving a disgruntled employee. The management team have highlighted that in the event of an incident, the network and services would need to be operational within 48 hours.