RE: AW: Multi-User Access to Password Database

From: John Brightwell (brightwell_151_at_yahoo.co.uk)
Date: 07/17/03

  • Next message: David Glosser: "Re: Monitoring the network: Routers" 
    Date: Thu, 17 Jul 2003 14:12:52 +0100 (BST)
To: security-basics@securityfocus.com

    Mmmm I must be phrasing my question badly...

    The majority of responses seem to suggest storing All
    the passwords in a file (or database) protected by a
    shared password. As I mentioned in my email this isn't
    suitable because

    1. Anyone who requires access to the file/database for
    a specific purpose has access to All of the passwords
    (even if they never need to know them)... so, if they
    leave the company All the passwords need to be
    changed.

    2. There's no audit trail to indicate who has had
    access to the passwords - the access is provided by a
    single password known to all the Admins ... (and
    anyone else who gets to hear of it). So if someone
    leaves the company you have to assume they've seen the
    passwords and change them all.

    3. If the password for access to the file/database
    becomes known (or if it's even suspected that it's
    known) then All the passwords have to be changed.

    As you can see, in all of the above cases there's a
    lot of admin involved. If you're a small shop with
    only a couple of Admins who need to access all
    equipment then maybe this isn't an issue.
    But if you've got a lot of admins (who each require
    access to a varied group of equipment) then you've got
    a problem on your hands.
    Sure you could have a different file/database for each
    group of equipment but some Admins may require access
    to the lot...so do they have to remember the password
    for every password file/dtatbase ... or do you have
    the same password in multiple files/databases (in
    which case updating becomes an issue).

    So what I hoped for was:
    A multi-user database
    The user (admin) uniquely authenticates to the
    database (with their own password or, preferably,
    their ssh key or SecurID token)
    The user can only access specific records (passwords)
    which relate to the equipment for which they have
    responsibility.
    Every access creates an audit trail showing who
    accessed a specific record.
    Obviously the actual data is protected by encryption

    If a password is changed on the equipment it is only
    changed in the one database (and the audit trail can
    even be used to notify those users who have recently
    accessed the old password).

    If a user (admin) leaves, then any passwords for which
    they have access should be changed (from the audit
    trail the actual passwords that they have looked up
    can be identified and these can be changed as a
    priority)

    If it is suspected that a user's authentication has
    become compromised then only those passwords for which
    he/she has access need be changed (and the exposure of
    risk is limited to those machines)

    Thom's response caught the flavour and maybe that's
    the solution - in effect giving each admin their own
    database for the passwords that they need to know. Of
    course, you lose the audit and the ability update
    passwords easily but it's certainly closer then a
    shared file.

    Thanks for all your responses though - if anyone comes
    up with a database solution I'm gagging to hear :-)

    Regards

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  • Next message: David Glosser: "Re: Monitoring the network: Routers"

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