Isn't it amazing how easy it is to adopt bad habits? The crazy thing is that no one is immune- they plague each and every one of us. Whether we were taught incorrect practices or are just looking for shortcuts to make our lives/jobs/situations easier, each of us yields to poor patterns at some point in our lives.
It's when we allow these habits to interfere with the mechanisms keeping our enterprises safe that they become a huge problem. Maybe you think your actions won't matter because no one knows about them, or that your exploits won't affect the sensitive information within your company's database, or maybe it's just that you're not concerned enough to switch to correct principles. Whatever your reason for allowing bad habits to fester, it's time for a wake-up call! There's no room for these patterns in today's information security world. With cases like the Goldman Sachs debacle and the Vodafone incident showing how prevalent data leaks and cyber crime are becoming, it's time to shape up. But how can you take your bad habits and turn them into peace of mind? Start by kicking these four bad behaviors and you'll be well on your way:
1. Stop allowing your employees access to root. With this type of access, your people can access everything, including the privileges required to manipulate and share data.
2. Don't let desktop users run as administrators. When you allow your users to run as a local admin, you are opening your enterprise to serious security issues. You may think you're saving money by allowing this instead of multiple calls to the help desk, but in reality you're risking much more than money.
3. Stop bypassing logging. Without this system of checks and balances, you won't be able to granularly control what goes on in your company.
4. Don't assume that because you're using UAC you're immune to data breaches. UAC is a great tool, but doesn't fully eliminate admin rights. It leaves gaping holes in your protection plan.
If you find yourself on the path to a security breach because you're choosing to maintain bad security habits, make the decision to change today. Kick these habits and introduce peace of mind into your security plan.
Scott Lang, Sr. Director, Product Marketing at BeyondTrust
Scott Lang has nearly 20 years of experience in technology product marketing, currently guiding the product marketing strategy for BeyondTrust’s privileged account management solutions and vulnerability management solutions. Prior to joining BeyondTrust, Scott was director of security solution marketing at Dell, formerly Quest Software, where he was responsible for global security campaigns, product marketing for identity and access management and Windows server management.
