Tip
Subject Content

203
Monitor shared folder access for security

Like other Windows operating systems, Windows 2000 Professional enables users to share folders

with others on the network. The shared folders can be protected with share permissions and, if the

folder is hosted on an NTFS volume, with NTFS permissions. However, even with these security

mechanisms in place, in many situations it can still be important to keep track of who accesses a

particular folder or file. Disproportionate access to a folder by a particular account can indicate a

compromised user account.



Perhaps the most direct way to monitor share access is to enable object access auditing. This

enables Windows to place an event in the Security event log when someone accesses a folder or file,

fails at that action, or both. Monitoring successful attempts helps track who is using the folder;

monitoring unsuccessful attempts helps identify authorized users who are having problems

connecting or users who are attempting to access a share for which they aren't authorized.



Go to Security Settings\Local Policies\Audit Policy\Audit Object Access and enable object access

auditing in local or group policy.

To configure auditing for individual folders and files, right-click the folder or file and choose

Properties.

Click the Security tab, and click Advanced.

Click the Auditing tab, click Add, add a group or user, and click OK.

In the resulting Auditing Entry dialog box, place checks in the Successful and/or Failed columns

for each event you want to monitor.

Click OK to close the dialog box, close the remaining dialog boxes, and close the Properties for the

folder.



Note: Enabling auditing on a heavily used folder or file can generate a large number of events in

the Security log

Page 203 of 237
First Previous Next Last