| 5.5 |  | Managing the Router |
| 5.5.2 |  | Access mechanisms for administrators |

| Determining access to the routers by administrators is an important issue. There are two types of access:

1. Local
2. Remote

Local access usually involves a direct connection to a console port on the router with a dumb terminal or a laptop computer .

Remote access typically involves allowing telnet or SNMP connections to the router from some computer on the same subnet or a different subnet .

It is recommended to only allow local access because during remote access all Telnet passwords or SNMP community strings are sent in the clear to the router. If an attacker can collect network traffic during remote access, then passwords and community strings can be captured. However, there are some security options if remote access is required:

- A dedicated management network should be established. The management network should include only identified administration hosts and a spare interface on each router.
- Encrypt all traffic between the administrator’s computer and the router using IPSec, SSH, or other encryption methods. In either case a packet filter can be configured to only allow the identified administration hosts access to the router.

In addition to how administrators access the router, there may be a need to have more than one level of administration, or more than one administrative role. The capabilities of each level or role needs to be clearly defined in the router security policy. For example, one role might be network manager and administrators authorized to view and modify the configuration settings and interface parameters. Another role might be operator and administrators authorized to clear connections and counters. In general, it is best to keep the number of fully privileged administrators to a minimum.