Securing a Windows Server 2008 R2 Public Web Server

Question

I'm setting up a public web server: Windows Server 2008 R2, IIS7.5. Does anyone have a tutorial / walkthrough / tips on properly securing a public web server? I've seen a few tutorials but mostly focused on Windows Server 2003.

What I've done so far:

• Created a specific user account for the website / app pool,
• Renamed Admin account,
• Installed FTPS,
• Configured firewall to block any non-public service (web / https),
• Configured firewall to allow access to management interfaces only from specific IP addresses (rdp, IIS management, ftp)

Maybe a few other things but can't remember at the moment...

ICMP is allowed... Should I disable all except ping?

Port scan reveals only web and https ports.

Any other suggestions?

Thanks

Answer 1

As far as ICMP, I don't disable it. Certain ICMP messages control TCP window scaling and path MTU discovery. Disabling ICMP can lead to connection problems.

refs:

http://www.znep.com/~marcs/mtu/ <- Path MTU issue

http://www.daemon.be/maarten/icmpfilter.html <- ICMP filtering policy

Answer 2

Looks good. Do you have anything in front of the web server?

Answer 3

Check this question (though much only applies to IIS6) and have a look at Server 2008 Security Compliance Manager to create and apply a local security policy.