Re: Conflict of interests

[Richard Thomas <austindad () gmail com>]

Al,

Based on what you have provided regarding your role, then no, it is
not reasonable for you to request persistent privileged access.  The
information you need can be provided by the tools you mentioned and by
reports generated by the IT department on a regular basis.  Occasional
privileged access may be in order for periodic audits to ensure the
information provided by the IT department is accurate.  Good luck.

Richard Thomas

On Tue, May 5, 2009 at 11:18 AM, s0h0us <s0h0us () yahoo com> wrote:
> Hi Richard Thanks for the feedback, I thought I had included a name in the original posting but I guess I didn't. You 
> can call me Al. (like in the song :P )
> Anyway, my role? the million dollar question. One man show, trying to do many things. From policy writing, to 
> internal risk assessments of third party vendors, contract reviews, vendor management, etc.
> Somewhere along the line I review IT's functions as they relate to security. In this case I want to review their 
> patch management process by making sure devices are proactively being updated as needed. Using tools like Nessus, GFI 
> Languard, etc. I have a separate computer, outside the corporate AD to perform some of these tests. This is simply an 
> example of a way in which I'm wondering if privileged access is required. I'm not so much trying to perform a pen 
> test, more wanting to make sure internal devices are not vulnerable.
> hope this helps. thanks again!
>
>
>
> ----- Original Message ----
> From: Richard Thomas <austindad () gmail com>
> To: s0h0us () yahoo com
> Cc: security-basics () securityfocus com
> Sent: Tuesday, May 5, 2009 11:37:06 AM
> Subject: Re: Conflict of interests
>
> First, a request.  Please give us a name to use, even if it's false.
> To answer your question, we need to know the type of security role you
> play.  Is it operational security or more compliance related?
> Generally, you should not require either domain admin access or root.
> Most IT staff never need this level of access.  If you could provide
> us more information regarding the situation and your role, I think we
> could offer more useful input.
>
> Richard Thomas
>
> On Mon, May 4, 2009 at 1:16 PM,  <s0h0us () yahoo com> wrote:
> > As a security guy, not part of the IT department, I require a level of access in order to perform my job. Certain 
> > types of tools require privileged access in order to work. Like having domain admin access and/or similar privileged 
> > access for unix and linux systems. Is it reasonable to request this type of access without causing any type of 
> > conflict of interest that internal auditors might question? I guess audit trails would come in handy here.
> > Thanks for the feedback.

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