Secure network for vulnerable pcs attached to equipment
This post is over 5 years old, it may be out of date.
Often PCs attached to expensive measuring equipment do not get software updates, because the risk is too high that afterwards there is a problem with the equipment. In those cases C&CZ network administration can help by isolating the PCs on a separate shielded network, with specific rules for the network traffic allowed to and from that network segment. It is possible to write data to a network drive, that can be read (but not written) from other locations. Also traffic to the C&CZ printer server can be allowed, so no local printer is necessary. Departments such as Microbiology, HFML and FELIX have been using this shield for years. A recent vulnerability that is a huge risk for for Linux systems without software updates, is Shellshock. Windows systems will be very vulnerable unless they have the Microsoft patches that are published on Patch Tuesday.