Title

The IBM z/OS system administrator (SA) must develop a process notify appropriate personnel 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 SAs and information system security officers (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

Ask the SA for the documented process to notify appropriate personnel when accounts are created. If there is no documented process, this is a finding.

Fix Text

Develop a documented process to notify appropriate personnel when accounts are created.

Additional Identifiers

Rule ID: SV-223543r1001137_rule

Vulnerability ID: V-223543

Group Title: SRG-OS-000274-GPOS-00104

Expert Comments

CCIs tied to check.

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