Protecting services from security mis-configuration

It is understood that ICT security can be defined and enforced through rules. In this paper, the concept of rules which define and ensure users' access to services is introduced. Examples of how service is hindered by otherwise sensible security rules are presented. Service protection policies are then described which can help to prevent these compromises to service and assist us to measure this impact where it occurs. These examples include demonstration in some cases of how the combined collection of rules (security and service protection) can be enforced and maintained. The concept of service protection policies is introduced. We use ns3 and Click in simulations to check the consistency of aggregate security policy by checking that service protection rules are valid. We show that these can improve the performance of the network experienced by users and increase network security.