Re: administrator permissions mail server

On Tuesday 06 February 2007 04:51, Step0ut wrote:
> Hi everyone,
>
> I am sorry if this is not the exact forum to post this question but seemed
> the most relevant.
> I am working in a network with 40/50 PC's managed by 3 people with
> administrator passwords.
> The OS used is GNU/Linux.
> There is also a webmail service provided by the same server, which is also
> maintained
> by the same people.
> My question is the following:
> Since the administrator has of course access to all user files, does this
> mean that
> one with administrator privileges can read everybody's emails?
>
> Cheers,
> step0ut
Short answer is yes. You may want to research SELinux, but be advised that you 
would have to go beyond protecting files/directories. You probably have to 
deal with lots of scope for network sniffers, etc., as well.

Protecting an internal network against it's own administrators is going to be 
extremely difficult. Even if you build some sort of uber-bastion host that 
checks everything on other servers, client machines, etc., at the end of the 
day you have to trust at least one admin.

It *might* be possible to at least set up an audit system that's likely to 
catch bad actors. But I wouldn't bet on it, unless your budget allows for 
defense mechanisms commonly found in financial institutions, highly secure 
military systems, etc.

As always, it comes down to the value of what you're trying to protect, the 
likely threats, and the cost tradeoffs.

-- 
Greg Metcalfe