From: mea culpa (jerichoDIMENSIONAL.COM)
Date: Mon Jan 17 2000 - 12:22:07 CST

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http://www.sunworld.com/sunworldonline/swol-01-2000/swol-01-security.html

Who gets your trust?

Security breaches can come from those you least suspect

  Summary
  Systems administrators have extraordinary access to all the data on
  corporate systems. What can be done to ensure that your
  administrators will not betray that trust? (3,000words)

By Carole Fennelly

In the business world you will often hear the statement "We don't hire
hackers." When pressed for a reason, the speaker usually reveals a fear
that a "hacker" will install a back door in the system. Time and time
again, however, I have seen back doors installed by employees or security
professionals whose integrity is never questioned. When confronted, they
usually say it's no big deal. After all, they have the root password. They
just wanted to set up a root account with a different environment. That's
not hacking, right? Wrong. Their intention did not matter -- the security
of the system has been bypassed.

This article discusses how administrative privileges can be abused and
suggests some methods for countering that abuse. It is not meant to imply
that every administrator abuses privileges or has malicious intent -- just
that you shouldn't assume anything.

[snip...]

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