Superuser Containment: The Cost of Doing Nothing

Root. Administrator. Domain Admin. A superuser by any other name would smell as sweet. No matter what you call it, it’s the all-powerful accesses that can cause the most trouble in today’s network environments. All mature networks and many on their way to maturity incorporate controls to ensure that data is strictly controlled against compromise or inadvertent disclosure. But where problems still occur in today’s natively-managed networks is within the roles and responsibilities of its superusers. For this problem, IT departments are not necessarily at fault. It is within the architecture of the operating systems (OSs) themselves that effective role separation is inhibited between the administrators that manage the systems.

Learn how to use system architecture to manage the inherent threat of superusers.