Dangerous Services, Part 2

In Part 1 of this article, I described several services in Windows 2000 that open potential doors to attackers or present Denial of Service (DoS) targets. Here, in Part 2, I’ll share some other important tips for keeping your systems secure from network attacks.

The Server service. It's important for users to understand the Server service. Microsoft documents the Server service as simply providing file-and-print sharing, which is true. If you disable this service on a given system, no one can map drives or use printers that connect to that system. But the Server service also provides administrators remote access to other Win2K resources that they manage when using the Microsoft Management Console (MMC), including the event log, and local user and group maintenance. Even if no one has explicitly shared any folders, the Server service automatically creates hidden administrative shares at the root of each volume, such as C$ for the C drive. . . .