Privileged User Breaches Can Be Avoided
Published:
March 17 2010, 11:27 AM
by
Chris Wraight
As reported in Dark Reading, the recent indictment of a former TSA employee is continued proof that the need to control privileged users remains paramount. The employee, Douglas James Duchack, was terminated and in the two weeks following his notice he allegedly put malware code on a database server in an intentional attempt to compromise the computer and database.
The need to control privileged users and what they can (and cannot do) as well as monitor their activities is something all organizations should be aware of, and implementing solutions for.
In addition, similar to the Fannie Mae incident, this security breach also underscores the need for close integration with identity provisioning and de-provisioning systems. Why, given this privileged user's termination, was his privileged access still valid? His rights should have been de-provisioned immediately upon his termination.