Protecting cardholder data

Root accounts on systems are extremely powerful and, as a consequence, can create a significant liability if not kept out of the wrong hands. Despite the fact that insider threats represent somewhere around 80% of all security breaches, root accounts are one of the things most routinely shared among multiple administrators within IT organizations. Add to this the lack of accountability, the lack of visibility, and the massive amount of power that a hypervisor root account wields, and there is a recipe for disaster.

Access to these special accounts must be controlled. According to Mark Diodati, a senior analyst at Burton Group, privileged account management is a fast growing segment of the software industry, “with most large, regulated enterprises either having already deployed or planning to deploy the technology.” With privileged account access, administrators “can bypass security controls, destroy or breach confidential data, and cover tracks by deleting audit data.”

HyTrust Appliance delivers the power of privileged account management to VMware virtual infrastructure through its Root Password Vaulting feature. The solution locks down privileged host accounts and provides passwords for temporary use to enable time-limited privileged account access. As a result, all root account access is attributable to an individual and every action is logged, providing far greater visibility and accountability.