Security Considerations for Migrating from NT to Win2K, Part 3

In "Security Considerations for Migrating from NT to Win2K, Part 2," June 2001, I discussed the basic concepts of implementing Active Directory (AD) and the great leap forward that Group Policy presents to Windows 2000 security administrators. In Part 3, let's look at public key infrastructure (PKI) and a supporting technology, Encrypting File System (EFS), and the considerations involved in implementing these great new Win2K security features.

PKI—A Key to Security
Win2K Server offers integrated support for PKI, a methodology for authenticating users and securing network communications. A detailed description of PKI is beyond the scope of this article. Let's look at the basics of implementing and configuring PKI in Win2K. For more information about PKI and Win2K's PKI features, see Randy Franklin Smith's Windows 2000 Magazine article, "Windows 2000 Security Gains," http://www.win2000mag.com, InstantDoc ID 7434 and Tao Zhou's Windows 2000 Magazine article, "Public Key Infrastructure in Windows 2000," http://www.win2000mag.com, InstantDoc ID 4691. . . .