Mock Interview Exercise

Questions

1. When was the last time you upgraded you systems?
2. How old is your infrastructure?
3. What type of software do you use for your network?

1. How do you manage your company devices?
2. How many people currently use the network?
3. How often do you have issues with your network?

1. How secure are the passwords used on you network?
2. How often do you change the passwords on your network?
3. Do you have security cameras around your server rooms?
4. Do you a good firewall to protect against unwanted traffic?
5. Have you setup access levels for each type of employee/user?

1. What is the budget for the project?
2. What are you objectives for the project?
3. What is the time span of the project?
4. How much do you want improved on your network?
   
   

Interview

1. They upgraded there systems last around 6 years ago (2019)
2. The oldest part of the network is around 10 years old (2015)
3. They use Windows Server, they didn't know the version (most likely 2019)
   

1. They monitor who has access to that device, they can access any device if they need to. They also use keylogging and restrict certain websites. I did have to ask an addition question
2. Around 7 people use you network on a day-to-day basis
3. They usually get around 6-7 complaints about the network each week. 

1. 8-12 Characters mix of letters and numbers, can't have the same passwords for more then 3 months
2. Every 3 months.
3. They have one facing the door of the server room, and a couple (3) in the server room itself.
4. They might have an issue on the firewall once per year, the firewall blocked traffic well until about 2 years. Some employee data got leaked. They still know who took it (very concerning).
5. They have 4 access level, Guest, Employee, Manager, IT Team.
6. The organisation makes sure that data is encrypted, and it is released apon request from an employee or manager.
   

1. The budget is 2.5 Grand, they have wiggle room to 4 grand.
2. In the long term to prevent a cyber-attack from happening again, also to make the network faster.
3. They want it done in a month. (MAX)
4. Mainly areas where there are fatal flaws, areas that haven't been upgraded since 2015.
   

Summary of the Interview

There existing network seems to be very outdated and is definitely In need of upgrading. There security seems to be optimal, although the data breach of employee data is very concerning and I could have asked more questions on how that happened. The fact that the organization has not rectified the security breach and the fact that they don't know who did it is extremely concerning. The organisation has not got any current remote workers. And they don't seem to have the infrastructure for it. The current network seems to not be able to sustain its current user base so it would not surprise me if adding more users to this network would overwhelm it. The organisation didn't specifically say much about cloud storage. But there current data management seems to be very basic as instead of using permissions on files and data they just encrypt everything and allow the IT Team to access all encrypted data, which can then lead to security risks. The fault tolerance strategies of the organisation, seem to be lack-luster at best. They need a brief on the best ways to mitigate the chance of another data breach from happening. I suggest that a complete overhaul of there entire network is necessary especially for the parts that are 10 years old. With this we can significantly reduce the amount of risk that is being managed at the organisation. These meet there requirements by removing fatal flaws and upgrading systems that are from 2015. Other then that I think that the staff should be better briefed on cyber-security and flaws in the network. I think that inplementing cloud storage into there systems would help them a lot, it would mean that employees can work from home, and it would put less strain on the network in the office.