Remove Sudo for Better Unix Privilege Management

If you’re trying to keep a network secure, you have to remove sudo access for all users except the highest-level techs. The power of root cannot be exaggerated. Those users who do have access to this command have to be monitored to make sure that they’re using it correctly. To stay in compliance, this means that you have to have logs of everything up to and including their keystrokes when they’re acting as an administrator on any machine. This requires sophisticated software that’s designed specifically for Unix privilege management.

When you remove sudo access from some users, you’ll find that it’s impractical. Some users rely on this level of control to be able to perform some rather innocuous tasks. On Unix and Linux systems, the operating system is very strict with security policies, won’t allow most devices to be attached, and certainly won’t allow any software to be installed or removed without root access. The products on the market that allow administrators to remove sudo access while still providing the ability for a user to perform certain tasks are invaluable to a proper security policy.

Where the users who do have sudo access are concerned, you have to make sure that there’s monitoring and accountability in place. Privilege management means making sure that those users who can perform the most delicate tasks on the network or on a machine have their activities logged. This is obviously good for security and a necessary part of compliance, but it’s also useful for the users themselves. It helps administrators troubleshoot when there are problems as all of the actions taken that could have compromised security or performance can be traced to the person who did them and revealed in great detail.

For any network that does not remove sudo access for regular users, there are significant threats that are always present. With such unbridled levels of control, there’s no limit to what a misguided user could do. Providing them with the power to do their jobs is important, but it’s also important that those necessary privileges don’t equate to root privileges on a Unix machine. There are management systems that work at the network level and at the desktop level. These products help companies to stay in compliance with security standards and, importantly, also allow companies to see a detailed breakdown of their present security situation.