System i security: Look in the mirror

The PowerTech Group has released another study looking at System i security, and has found yet again that it’s the people administering the systems that tend to cause security leaks, and not weaknesses in the hardware itself.

According to the story, findings from the study include:

• 76 percent of systems don’t control or audit changes to data made through PC access applications such as MS Excel and MS Access, creating uncontrolled network access.
• 10 percent of all users have privileged access (root-level access) authority.
• Confidential reports can be viewed by 20 percent of all users.
• Half of all systems have more than 20 users with default passwords (Password = User name) that can be easily determined by any attacker.

The findings are similar to the study PowerTech did last year.