IT Baseline Protection Manual - The Information Warfare Site

Safeguard Catalogue - Organisation Remarks
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S 2.131 Separation of administrative tasks for
database systems
Initiation responsibility: Head of IT Section, IT Security Management
Implementation responsibility: IT Security Management, Administrators
Administrators need to be appointed in order to ensure the proper operation of
database systems. In addition to general administrative tasks, these persons are
responsible, in particular, for the management of users and related access
rights. They are also responsible for fulfilling the security requirements of the
database systems in use.
In addition to the safeguards mentioned in S 2.26 Designation of an
administrator and his deputy and S 3.10 Selection of a trustworthy
administrator and his substitute, particular attention must be paid to the
following items where database systems are concerned.
In principle, a distinction must be made between two types of administrator
roles:
- General technical administration of database software
- Administration for individual applications
These two types of administration tasks must be performed by different
persons in order to separate application-specific and general administrative
activities relating to the database.
Basic operation of the database management system, maintenance of data
backups and archiving of data are examples of a general technical database
administration.
In contrast, the application-specific administration involves fulfilling the
individual requirements which applications generate for the database. This
includes, for example, management of the related database objects, providing
users with support in the case of problems and queries, and management of
database IDs. The latter activity is only possible if the management of the
database IDs of each application is supported by the database software using
an appropriate authorisation concept, i.e. if it can be separated from the
general access control.
The general administrator configures the application-specific administrator
accounts together with the related access rights. This includes, in particular,
the right to create databases. In contrast, rights for individual users should be
granted separately for each application-specific database, by the responsible
application-specific administrator in each case.
Additional controls:
- Have the administrative roles been separated?
- Which administrators have been appointed for the general administration
of the database software and the administration of individual applications?
- How is the interaction between the administrators coordinated? Have their
tasks and responsibilities been specified in writing?
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IT-Baseline Protection Manual: Oktober 2000