Wednesday, May 1, 2013

Security Policies - Part 9

Dear Readers,

My name is Franz Devantier, creator of this blog.  I am an Oracle Certified Professional (OCP DBA 11g) Security DBA.  I will be sharing with you the basic duties of an Oracle DBA, and also some of the undocumented, and not so well known tasks. 

I will make a deal with you:  If you refer me to a company that needs database support, from a few hours per week to full time, and I am able to sign a contract with them.
Then I will give you 10% of the monthly contract or deal price every month.  When the contract ends, and we re-sign the contract, I will again give you 10% of the monthly contract price.  This will go on until the company no longer employs or contracts me or my agents to look after their databases.
I can do this, because that 10% is my marketing budget.  When we re-sign the contract, in the future, it may depend on you giving the thumbs up again, and that is worth 10% of the monthly contract price, to be given to you as commission.
Contact: Franz

Security Policies  -  Part 9
Change default user passwords.
The easiest way for the Oracle Database Server to be compromised, is a default database account that still has a default password associated with it.

Change default passwords of administrative users.
In Oracle Database 10g, you can use the same or different passwords for the SYS, SYSTEM,SYSMAN, and DBSNMP administrative accounts.  It is good practice to use different passwords for each of them.  Assign strong, secure, and distinct passwords to these administrative accounts.  If you use DBCA, then the defaults  of SYS/CHANGE_ON_INSTALL and SYSTEM/MANAGER are not allowed.

Change default passwords of all users.
In 10g, SCOTT no longer installs with the default password of TIGER.  SCOTT and DBSNMP are locked and expired.  The other default user accounts install with a default password that is exactly the same as that user account, for example you could log in as MDSYS/MDSYS.

If any of the default user accounts need to be activated, then remember to assign a new secure password to each such user account.

Enforce password management.
It is best practice to apply basic password management rules to your installation.  Rules such as the minimum length of a password, the history of passwords, ie it should be at least three characters different to the previous password.  The complexity of the password, as well as checking that it is not the same as the user name is important.

It is good to use Oracle Advanced Security (Enterprise Edition), with network authentication services such as Kerberos, token cards, smart cards, or X.509 certificates.  Services like these enable stroing authentication of users to provide better protection against unauthorized access to your data, and installation.

Franz Devantier,
Need a database health check, or a security audit?
devantierf@gmail.com

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