Re: Privileges by session
Date: Fri, 8 Jan 2010 09:51:33 -0800 (PST)
Message-ID: <444732.29605.qm_at_web113209.mail.gq1.yahoo.com>
>> have you seen auditors actually use tooling to perform password
sanity checks on databases subject to SarbanesOxley, HIPAA, PCI or any
>> number of other legislated security policies ?
One issue you run into is if you have automated account locking... the sanity checking can cause accounts to get locked out. If you have systems where account locking is not enabled, then I would have no objection to such testing. Sanity testing of the SYS account password on various systems makes perfect sense to me.
I have no objections to auditing performing penetration testing as long as it's coordinated with our group and designed to not impact systems. If security is really the goal (and so many places it still just gets lip service it seems like) then I'm of the opinion that all the testing you can do is worthwhile as long as it's under control and well documented and compliant with current security policies.
RF
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From: Jared Still <jkstill_at_gmail.com> To: Andre van Winssen <dreveewee_at_gmail.com> Cc: wblanchard_at_societyinsurance.com; oracle-l_at_freelists.org Sent: Fri, January 8, 2010 9:16:28 AM
Subject: Re: Privileges by session
On Fri, Jan 8, 2010 at 3:23 AM, Andre van Winssen <dreveewee_at_gmail.com> wrote:
>
>
>have you seen auditors actually use tooling to perform password sanity checks on databases subject to SarbanesOxley, HIPAA, PCI or any number of other legislated security policies ?
>
No, I haven't. I have seen penetration tests do that, but never SOX auditors.
>
>
>I have seen big shops where fancy database compliancy reports, created by the dbas, were just about enough to let the auditors say "Ok, compliant!" Motto: business comes first, security second.
Reports here are created by the DBA's. Same for Sysops, and application Admins.
Really though, it would be quite difficult for the auditors to accomplish this.
At least in my limited SOX experience, it isn't quite as simple as "Here's my report, sign it off please".
I generate reports for databases that must comply with Sarbanes Oxley. These reports are reviewed with the Security admin for the app. (how timely, did this just yesterday)
In this particular case, the reports are shown to verify SOD (separation of duties) so that no one has DBA privileges unless they are warranted.
The auditors must rely on DBA's to provide the information. There are many ways that a user can have DBA privileges - roles, legitimate roles that have been granted extra privilges, roles that appear to be system roles but are created to provide extraordinary privileges, direct grants, execution on packages, ...
You can't really expect an auditor to be able to do all that. Sorry, this goes a bit off topic, as it is more than just checking for password complexity.
Jared Still
Certifiable Oracle DBA and Part Time Perl Evangelist
Oracle Blog: http://jkstill.blogspot.com
Home Page: http://jaredstill.com
-- http://www.freelists.org/webpage/oracle-lReceived on Fri Jan 08 2010 - 11:51:33 CST