Re: Question about Archivemode

"Ryan" <rgaffuri_at_cox.net> wrote in message news:TYmZ8.92772$%%2.3973511_at_news2.east.cox.net...
> If Im a hacker and I log into someones DB, what is the quickest way to
make
> it unuseable? Lets say you have an account with DBA access? I mean the
whole
> database with many tablespaces? IS there one thing you can destroy?
>
> Im trying to convince some co-workers of how easy it would be.
>

Well, I'm not sure that this is entirely appropriate advice, so I'll preface it by saying that it is practically impossible to destroy an Oracle database, unless you have an early and unpatched release of Oracle 9i (!).

So if the only access to the system you've got is a DBA logon, then you can't "destroy" the database. But you can make life hard for the DBA by doing something as simple as dropping a tablespace. That's a nasty one to reccover from, because it involves restoring the controlfile, too. But it's still recoverable, eventually.

Dropping an important table would be a pain, too, and since it would involve an incomplete recovery, that would definitely result in the loss of some committed data. But again, that's not really "destroying" a database, is it?

If you could log on with *SYS*DBA privileges, things are a bit different. Nothing to stop SYS doing a 'delete from obj$', for example. And since that table stores details of every other object in the database, that's rather nasty. Again, recoverable with an incomplete recovery, provided you're in archivelog mode.

If you're not in archivelog mode, then any and all of the above suggestions would necessitate the restoration of your last cold backup, and potentially large quantities of data would be lost. If you're in archivelog mode, any and all of the above can be recovered from with much less data loss.

Of course, a true hacker would want O/S access, so as to be able to do any of the above, and then delete all prior backups and archives. Then you're in trouble.

But this isn't really saying anything more than 'if your security is non-existent, of course damage can be done'. With just routine DBA privileges, you can cause a great deal of inconvenience, and maybe some data loss, but you can't "destroy" a database.

Regards
HJR
>
> "Howard J. Rogers" <howardjr2000_at_yahoo.com.au> wrote in message
> news:ah4r57$edm$1_at_lust.ihug.co.nz...
> > You can't drop the system tablespace. Try it, and you'll get an error
> > message to that effect:
> >
> > SQL> drop tablespace SYSTEM;
> > drop tablespace SYSTEM
> > *
> > ERROR at line 1:
> > ORA-01550: cannot drop system tablespace
> >
> > Regards
> > HJR
> >
> >
> > "Ryan" <rgaffuri_at_cox.net> wrote in message
> > news:a6lZ8.92703$%%2.3951072_at_news2.east.cox.net...
> > > Also if you drop the system tablespace does it wait for any kind of
> > instance
> > > shut down or is it immediate? Im 99% sure its instant, but I need to
> prove
> > > something to someone at work and I dont want to be wrong.
> > >
> > >
> > > "Ryan" <rgaffuri_at_cox.net> wrote in message
> > > news:R4lZ8.92701$%%2.3951689_at_news2.east.cox.net...
> > > > Ok this is a really basic Backup and Recovery question.
> > > >
> > > > If someone drops the system tablespace, ie, an intruder.
> > > >
> > > > Is it possible to perform a backup from the redo logs in you are not
> in
> > > > archive mode or have any software like RMAN installed? Or do I have
to
> > > > recover from my last cold backup?
> > > >
> > > > For those of you who saw an earlier post of mine... no this did not
> > > happen.
> > > > :)
> > > >
> > > >
> > >
> > >
> >
> >
>
>
Received on Wed Jul 17 2002 - 18:52:15 CDT