Title

The operating system must notify system administrators and ISSOs when accounts are created. (Cat II impact)

Discussion

Once an attacker establishes access to a system, the attacker often attempts to create a persistent method of reestablishing access. One way to accomplish this is for the attacker to create a new account. Notification of account creation is one method for mitigating this risk. A comprehensive account management process will ensure an audit trail which documents the creation of operating system user accounts and notifies administrators and ISSOs that it exists. Such a process greatly reduces the risk that accounts will be surreptitiously created and provides logging that can be used for forensic purposes. To address access requirements, many operating systems can be integrated with enterprise-level authentication/access/auditing mechanisms that meet or exceed access control policy requirements.

Check Content

Verify the operating system notifies System Administrators and Information System Security Officers when accounts are created. If it does not, this is a finding.

Fix Text

Configure the operating system to notify System Administrators and Information System Security Officers when accounts are created.

Additional Identifiers

Rule ID: SV-203678r991563_rule

Vulnerability ID: V-203678

Group Title: SRG-OS-000274

Expert Comments

CCIs tied to check.

Controls tied to check. These are derived from the CCIs shown above.