In a world of constantly evolving technology, SysAdmin is one of the oldest and most in-demand roles in the technology field. 

While not always getting all the glory, SysAdmin is a critical piece of the technology organization and essential to the success of a business.

SysAdmin or Systems Administrator is the person responsible for configuring and managing a company’s entire infrastructure, including all the hardware, software, and operating systems required to support the business’ operations.

With the evolution of DevOps, traditional SysAdmin has become a more hybrid role, often wearing multiple hats and helping with a variety of tasks and actions that may require some development and programming. 

As such, this type of administrator must have a solid knowledge of hardware and software to effectively configure a resilient and secure architecture to protect the business and ensure a seamless customer experience.

Keep reading and learn more about the responsibilities of a SysAdmin and the differences between SysAdmin and DevOps.

What does a SysAdmin do?

SysAdmins are always available, whether it is to update their company’s software or repair a corrupt SQL database. Here are other tasks that IT professionals do that you might not even notice:

• A SysAdmin installed the server for this website, installed an operating system, fixed it for security, made sure the power and router were working in the server room, monitored stability, configured the software, and kept backups in case anything goes wrong. 
• Another SysAdmin installed the routers, laid the cables, set up the networks, set up the firewalls, watched and guided the traffic for each hop of the network that passes through copper, fiberglass, and even air itself to bring the Internet to your computer. 
• SysAdmins ensure that your computer is working properly on a healthy network. They back up to safeguard and protect the environment from disasters, protect firewalls from security threats and hackers, and keep printers running. 
• A SysAdmin takes care of spam, viruses, malware, spyware, as well as power outages, fires, and floods. 
• When the mail server goes down at 2 am on a Sunday, a SysAdmin is notified, wakes up, and starts working. 
• A system administrator is an expert who plans, takes care, fixes, pushes, defends, protects, and builds good computer networks.

What is the difference between DevOps and SysAdmin?

Since DevOps encompasses so many different tasks and processes, getting to a clear and comprehensive definition is a challenge.

DevOps is not necessarily about individual tools or roles, but rather a set of practices that developers and operators use to deliver software to end-users more holistically and efficiently. It is another philosophy along the lines of Agile that seeks to break down organizational silos and promote cross-functional teamwork and cooperation.

In other words, DevOps represents a convergence of many different spheres within enterprise IT.

Meanwhile, a system administrator, or SysAdmin, is a person responsible for maintaining, configuring, and reliably operating computer systems, especially multi-user computers such as servers.

As the descriptions above show, there is a clear difference between the two. So where does the confusion come from?

Much of the confusion occurs because “DevOps” has become a buzzword in the tech space.

The word “DevOps” has been misused countless times by companies looking to save money and get things done quickly. Using the word to cover up the desire to save money by reducing staff often creates big problems in the future.

Many companies and startups think DevOps engineers can do everything themselves and will solve all their problems once they are hired. This is not the case. It is wrong to think that a DevOps expert can be called upon to clean up all the mess a company has made until now with its infrastructure.

What to do to become a SysAdmin?

Becoming a system administrator will require learning some specialized skills. Earning a certification can bring you the necessary experience and enhance your resume.

As a SysAdmin, you will need to develop a basic set of skills that will allow you to make sure the computer systems in your organization are running smoothly. Here are the key skills you should want on your resume.

• In-depth Knowledge of Operating Systems: Whether Windows, Linux or Mac, hiring managers often look for competence in administering the operating system used in their company. Windows and Linux operating systems have been widely adopted and are good systems to start with, although it is a good idea to see if your industry favors one over the others.
• Hardware Familiarity: Running physical devices such as servers or printers will be an important part of a systems administrator’s job.
• Cloud Administration Skills: Familiarity with cloud applications like Office365, Google Apps, and AWS can boost the hiring process.
  
  
• Networking Knowledge: Being able to configure and maintain Local Area Networks (LAN) and Wide Area Networks (WAN), in addition to configuring network security features such as firewalls, are often expected of system administrators. This can often be the case in smaller companies where IT professionals are expected to play many roles. 
• Communication and Interpersonal Skills: In addition to working as a team, system administrators often must help other employees who do not have the same technical knowledge, through help desk support or other means. Being able to communicate well will be a critical part of the success of a system administrator’s daily tasks.

Final Thoughts

A SysAdmin reviews the big picture to ensure their business is running as efficiently and securely as possible.

This means being able to not only survive a major failure, but also protect against minor issues such as security breaches, system failures, and large financial costs.

The latter may seem like an odd role for IT, but think about it. How many computers does your organization have and how often do you replace them? Are you waiting until they are completely obsolete or fail before replacing them?

A large part of a SysAdmin’s job is to plan and maintain an up-to-date system. This means installing a regular hardware routine based on an approved schedule.

If you are interested in the subject, we also recommend reading the article Risks Associated with the Lack of Protection in Cloud Access below.

Given the importance of protecting employees and the information of an entire corporation, it is essential to understand and put into practice the 5 pillars of information security.

Dealing with information security has already become a routine agenda in management meetings, as it allows for the reduction of financial losses, in addition to creating protection mechanisms in processes, technology, and people, not only against cyberattacks or information leaks but also to ensure security on many other issues that will be reported here.

There are 5 pillars of information security: Confidentiality, Integrity, Availability, Authenticity, and Non-repudiation.

Keep reading to better understand each one of them!

Information Security and Its Importance

Protecting data is the main goal of information security and, during the digital age we live in, information helps ensure companies’ competitive advantage. Therefore, it is necessary to protect this information that generates value and credibility for organizations.

Threats to information security are numerous, such as unauthorized access, data loss, intrusions, leaks, and many others that can come from hacker attacks or even human errors.

With technological evolution, risks increase and require even more effective protection management.

Thus, the defense base of corporate systems and infrastructure are the pillars of information security that work through policies, passwords, encryption software, and other processes required for this risk management.

What Threats Are We Talking About?

When we talk about threats that surround the pillars of information security, we are referring to different types ranging from digital to human ones.

Some of them are known for software attacks through viruses, e-mails, and phishing websites, which are responsible for stealing data and passwords, social engineering scams, which manipulate people to steal private information, theft of mobile devices that store confidential information, and denial of service attacks (DoS and DDoS).

In research conducted by the Global Cyber Risk Perception Survey, in 2019, 79% of respondents considered cyber risks to be among the 5 most worrying in their organizations.

Also read about the 7 Signs that Your Business Needs to Improve the Security of Sensitive Data

Learn About the Pillars of Information Security

Considering the many threats that exist, how should companies protect themselves? Let’s learn more about the pillars of information security!

1. Integrity

The Integrity pillar is responsible for maintaining the original characteristics of the data, as they were configured in their creation. In this way, the information cannot be changed without authorization.

If there is an improper change in the data, it means there was a loss of integrity, so it is necessary to implement control mechanisms in order to prevent unauthorized alteration of information.

2. Confidentiality

This pillar protects information from unauthorized access, establishing privacy for your company’s data, avoiding situations of cyberattacks or espionage.

The basis of this pillar is to control access through password authentication, which may also take place through biometric scan and encryption, which has been generating favorable results in this purpose.

3. Availability

The ideal in an information system is for data to be available for whatever is needed, ensuring full-time user access.

This requires stability and permanent access to system data through fast maintenance, constant updates, and debugging.

It is important to remember the vulnerability of systems that are susceptible to blackouts, fires, denial attacks, and many other threat possibilities that exist in this context.

How to Strengthen These Pillars in Your Company?

After learning more about the pillars of information security, one needs to assess whether their practices are following these principles to stay away from the infinite possibilities of threats to their data.

Many solutions are already used by several companies seeking to eliminate risks to security systems, consolidating the pillars of information security in their organization, after all, whoever has information has power in this digital age.

With the evolution of technology and the revolution in the information age, the concern with data security has become more and more constant for companies, governments, and users. Since data are fundamental assets for the growth of companies, investing in protection is essential in organizations’ routines.

As cyber threats and crimes increase, efforts need to be stepped up, putting effective security measures in place. Therefore, there is a need to have a team specialized in security within a company, regardless of the industry, that constantly works to protect the information, relying on an Incident Response Plan (IRP). 

This way, the team can anticipate threats and develop the best actions to combat them immediately, without harming the company’s business.

For that, one needs to ensure this response plan works correctly, following the fundamental steps, and is well managed. In this article, we explain what an incident response plan is, its benefits, and the important aspects of putting one together. 

What is an Incident Response Plan (IRP)?

An IRP is a formal document that contains a set of tools and procedures that an IT team must adopt to deal with security issues that arise in the business. The purpose of these measures is to work on the prevention, identification, elimination, and recovery of cyber threats. 

Not only that, it ensures that actions are taken as quickly as possible, minimizing possible damage to the business, which ranges from loss of data and damage to resources, profits, and loss of customer trust. 

To be successful in an IRP, one needs to follow some fundamental steps that are well managed. The standard plan with these steps is based on the Incident Handler’s Handbook published by the SANS Institute. 

It is a document with six steps to be followed when building the plan, which are:

Preparation

The first step in implementing the plan is defining a specific team to work with the incidents. The team will be responsible for creating the incident documentation, containing the protocols to be followed in the execution of the plan’s actions. 

It is necessary to train the personnel to handle the situations by following the company’s security policies. This helps to understand exactly the risks to which the company is exposed and the preventive measures to be taken in different situations.

Identification 

The responsible team must work to detect deviations from operations, seeking to identify incidents and define their severity. 

In this detection, the type and severity of the problem are documented, as well as all the procedures that are being carried out in this regard. The formalization of this incident must answer the questions “Who, What, Where, Why, and How”.

Containment 

After identifying an incident, the team’s next step is to work on containment, in order to avoid future damage of the same nature. This containment is divided into short-term and long-term procedures.

The short-term containment works on the immediate solution of the problem, trying to prevent possible damage from the attack, while the long-term one refers to more complex actions, which involve the restoration of the entire corporate system, aiming at its return to normality.

Eradication 

Once the problem is contained, eradication actions are initiated. At this step, the focus is on the complete removal of the vulnerability and the necessary measures to avoid a recurrence of the problem. 

These actions can involve a change in authentication mechanisms, such as passwords and access permissions, or even a restoration of all affected systems in the company. The incident level and the most assertive action will be defined by using metric indicators, KPIs.

Recovery

In this step, the team works to verify and correct threats that may have gone unnoticed in the previous step, that is, the remnants of the incident. A scan action and transport of backups into cloud systems can be one of the necessary measures in this process. 

Also, the team assesses the performance of the previous step by analyzing the response time, the damage caused and the performance of the tasks, so that new directions to be followed are defined.

Lessons Learned

In order for the team to be prepared for future problems and to reduce any errors, it needs to record the entire containment process performed, containing the incidents and the procedures to combat them. 

It is a very important step as it documents the entire process and provides a history of occurrences to aid future actions. It is also at this step that mistakes and successes of actions are evaluated, which hindered or enhanced the development of actions.

How Important is an IRP?

A company that has an IRP is better prepared to deal with a wide variety of situations related to the security of its information. The best practices in the plan help the company to assertively anticipate and combat various threats. 

By adopting these practices, the company ensures greater security of its data, prevents the payment of penalties on data recovery costs, and avoids financial losses.

Greater Data Security

The implementation of protection and backup, correction, and access management systems, as well as the correct management of information, generate faster actions to protect and contain incidents.

Cost Reduction

The costs of fighting incidents can be high, due to regulatory sanctions, customer compensation, or the overall costs of investigating and restoring systems. 

An IRP helps to reduce these costs as it constantly works to prevent problems. Moreover, profit losses are also mitigated, in addition to minimizing costs, system downtime also decreases, limiting data loss.

It Maintains and Enhances the Company’s Reputation 

Without implementing an IRP, controlling and combating threats becomes more difficult, which can lead to business loss. This is because incidents do not only affect the technical aspects of the company but are directly related to business continuity. 

Constant and unresolved attacks on customer data undermine the credibility of the company responsible for its protection. Furthermore, it may lose investors and shareholders who stop believing in a flawed and easily breached business. 

On the other hand, quick and effective responses to incidents demonstrate the company’s greater commitment to data security and privacy, which increases its credibility and reputation.

Important Aspects of Putting an IRP Together

Following the IRP steps is critical to your success. However, the company needs to be aware it is not a fixed process and that it must be adapted to the organization’s structure. 

Hence the importance of periodic assessments to constantly evaluate the plan, eliminate its gaps, and adopt the necessary improvements.

To implement the plan, it is not necessary to have a large team of employees, but that they are all properly qualified, trained, and have good tools to ensure the best possible results in carrying out the activities. 

It is also necessary that other sectors undergo training so that they become aware of the company’s security policies and know how to proceed in the face of incidents and how to report them to the responsible team.

Implementing privileged access management to systems in a company is critical to ensuring that there are no information theft and other security issues.

The so-called cyberattacks are responsible, for example, for the theft and hijacking of information in exchange for money, causing several damages to the continuity of an organization’s business. They have become very common and their actions can cause not only financial losses but also image and reputation losses.

Unfortunately, the trend is that over the years, these cyberattacks will become more and more severe and that their number of occurrences will grow.

With this scenario, importance of privileged access management also grows. Cyberattacks happen through classic malware and phishing methods or the exploitation of zero-day software vulnerabilities, in addition to advanced social engineering techniques.

With all that, privileged access management comes to help ensure that organizations function. Thus, it covers the need to protect data, networks, and devices from malicious actions.

Privileged Access Management

Privileged access management allows one to control all access performed through an organization’s privileged credentials in a system, preventing insider attacks and breaches.

Its deployment allows IT departments to be able to reduce access privileges, following tools and groups. In this way, users will have the right to access only those applications and locations on the network they need to perform their duties. This concept is called the principle of least privilege.

Also, IT can have visibility of how user interactions are being done, access times, how many interactions with the system were performed, which servers were used, and what activities were performed by each user.

With privileged access management, a user – be they from the company or a third party – who has a high privilege will have administrative access to the system using a privileged account.

It is through this credential that one can make changes to various settings, in addition to changing security protections or other user accounts.

In this way, all accesses performed in a company’s network environment must be managed. Furthermore, an unauthorized user should never have access to privileged systems and data.

Are you enjoying this post on privileged access management? So, visit our website and learn more about our products and services.

senhasegura strives to ensure the sovereignty of companies’ actions and privileged information. To do so, we work against data theft and through traceability of administrator actions on networks, servers, databases, and a multitude of devices through a PAM solution.

How is privileged access done?

Privileged access to devices can be accomplished in two ways:

• Manually (least recommended); and
• Through specific Privileged Access Management (PAM) solutions.

In this second case, PAM controls administrative access to a company’s critical systems to help it achieve its cybersecurity goals.

Controlling privileged actions allows one to protect a company’s IT systems against any attempt to carry out malicious actions, such as improper changes in the environment and theft of information. These blocked actions can take place both inside and outside the company.

In this context, using privileged access management technology is essential to optimize the deployment of a cybersecurity infrastructure in companies.

Moreover, the need for effective use of privileged access management techniques has never been greater, as traditional defense mechanisms such as antivirus, VPNs, and firewalls are subject to many failures today.

Myths and Truths

Now let’s take a look at some myths and truths about privileged access management:

1. Using PAM tools can completely prevent all cyberattacks.
Myth. This type of attack on the security of corporate networks is becoming more and more sophisticated. Therefore, there is no way for PAM to completely prevent all cyberattacks. However, this tool guarantees a lot of security for networks, preventing or mitigating the vast majority of attacks. In addition, it also needs to be constantly optimized to keep up with the boldness of cyberterrorists. As such, it is quite secure to avoid these problems.

2. Cyberattacks can be performed using privileged credentials.
True. Threats are becoming more sophisticated and intelligent, making use of attack techniques and tools to infiltrate company networks less visibly. Thus, cyberterrorists are investing in finding and taking advantage of privileged credentials to open their way to attack. That is why it is necessary to have a robust and reliable PAM tool to increasingly stop these attacks.

3. All companies invest in PAM.
Myth. Unfortunately, many companies remain blind to the importance of stopping attacks on their systems and end up not investing in tools for managing privileged access. Many of them believe there is no risk of intrusion when privileged access exists. But this is a wrong belief that could lead the company to bear huge losses later.

4. PAM deployment requires the use of shared accounts.
Myth. PAM has nothing to do with it. The use of shared accounts in itself poses a major cybersecurity risk. Also, many companies have had problems modifying the behavior of privileged users and administrators concerning this issue, posing a great risk to the company.

5. PAM allows you to create non-privileged accesses to a company’s network.
True. Although it seems that PAM only creates privileged access and accounts, in the most modern corporate tools of this system, it is also possible to create other types. In fact, PAM needs to facilitate any form of controlled connectivity to the system, through session and password management, and other security services, as well as monitoring and logging of activities.

With technology increasingly present in our lives, ensuring the security of your company’s information has become a must. The market offers numerous tools to prevent cyberattacks and control internal access to sensitive data. One of the most efficient solutions we have is Privileged Access Management – PAM. See below some of the most common questions when looking for a practical and really efficient solution to protect your company:

What Are Privileged Accounts?

All the time, malicious people appear looking for flaws within the companies’ systems to gain access to confidential data. This threat can be both external and internal. Therefore, organizations are increasingly looking for solutions that are truly capable of protecting this information.

Privileged accounts are created to control access to this data. This access is usually restricted only to people who hold leadership positions (high-level management) and administrators in the IT area. Other employees can obtain this information with the authorization of the company. Although it is extremely important, proper control often ends up being flawed. Because of that, there is this need to have a tool really capable of directing, tracking, and filtering these accesses. Among the most efficient, we have PAM solutions.

Why Should I Invest in a PAM Solution?

Lack of control over access to certain data within an enterprise can result in major disruptions, including loss of business continuity. Many adopted systems end up vulnerable due to a lack of effective supervision.

This lack of control leaves room for the leak of information, much of it sensitive, inside or outside the company. But after all, how to guarantee the privacy of these contents?

The PAM solutions turn out to be quite efficient in this case, as they use security strategies and technologies that, together, are capable of controlling privileged access.

Moreover, they restrict which users will be allowed to enter certain accounts, applications, devices, processes, and internal systems, and control them. This prevents external attacks, which can occur as a result of an employee’s lack of attention, or sharing of sensitive information within the company.

To better understand how this management is done, we made a post explaining everything about PAM solutions. Are PAM Solutions Really Secure?

We often associate external attacks as our only risk. However, insider threats can also put an entire organization at risk.

They are not always associated only with the people who work in a company. In this list, we can also include service providers, such as consultants, third parties and suppliers, and even former employees, who may have access to its data even after leaving the company.

Improper access can result in damage caused intentionally or accidentally. No matter the reason, in all cases the consequences can be quite bad and even irreversible.

Therefore, it is common for people to have doubts whether a PAM solution is capable of filtering these people’s access. And the answer to that question is yes! It is so secure that they are recommended by cybersecurity experts. Gartner, for example, has chosen PAM as the number-1 security project for 2 years in a row.

When it comes to reducing risk within an organization, a PAM solution is considered one of the most efficient and indispensable. It is worth mentioning that it is always important to hire credible solutions from the market.

senhasegura, for example, offers really efficient solutions, which protect the customer from possible data theft, in addition to tracking the actions of administrators on networks, servers, databases, and devices. All of this is done in compliance with demanding global standards such as ISO 27001, PCI DSS, HIPAA, and Sarbanes-Oxley.

How Does it Reduce Insider Threats?

The PAM solution uses some features to mitigate insider and external threats. One is by protecting the credentials of your most confidential data in a central, secure vault to which few people (with permission) have access.

Privileged access can be limited so that only authorized people can consult personal customer data, trade secrets, ongoing negotiations, intellectual property, financial data, among others.

Privileged Access Management is able to direct which access each employee will have authorization. Thus, they will only be able to consult information relevant to their tasks. All of this will be controlled by the system, no matter if they are working in person or remotely.

In addition to internal data, in order to have greater control over protection against attacks, it is also possible to restrict access to external content on websites and applications that pose a certain type of threat to a company’s security.

Is It Possible to Protect My Passwords in The Cloud?

Yes. senhasegura is the only company in Brazil that offers a cloud-native password vault. The SaaS service protects your credentials, offers password rotation, auditing, and monitoring of these privileged accounts.

In this way, you minimize the duties of the security administrative department and allow the process to take place efficiently and at a lower cost. Therefore, it is ideal for small and medium-sized companies due to its advantages.

Is PAM The Same Thing As IAM?

No. Although both have the principle of controlling a company’s data, the two usually work in a complementary way, each with its own functionality.

In comparison, we can say that PAM is a little more elaborate. Identity and Access Management (IAM) is a tool used for administrators to easily manage users and legitimize access to certain company resources.

Despite that, this type of system has some gaps when it comes to privileged accounts. It is at this point that PAM becomes essential, as it works in a broader and more detailed way. This solution can inform you of everything that is being done, which sessions were started, and who is accessing certain information.

In short, a PAM solution controls everything related to this data within the company, managing to filter accessibility and ensure secure storage of all information.

Do you have any more questions on the subject? Get in touch with the senhasegura team, as we can help you find the ideal product for your needs.

Ensuring your company’s security does not have to be a concern anymore. We are sure of that, as we are experts when it comes to PAM Solution. Visit our website and learn more about all our products and services.