The keys to everything
A new technician starts on Monday. By Friday she has the master password for every system. Nobody asked why. Nobody watches what she does.
Today you learn how to control who gets in, how powerful accounts are watched, and how the same ideas work in the cloud.
Key words
| Word | What it means |
|---|---|
| Access control | Giving and managing access to information. |
| Credentials | The details used to sign in, such as a user name and password. |
| Password policy | Rules for how long and how complex a password must be. |
| Privileged access management | Controlling and watching accounts with extra power. Short form: PAM. |
| Application firewall | A control that watches data going in and out of one app. |
| Patching | Installing the latest security fixes for the software you have. |
| Cloud | Computers and services run by another company and used over the internet. |
| Auditing | Checking records to see what happened. |
| Log | A record of events, kept by a system. |
The cells students fill in are left blank in this preview.
By the end of this lesson
Note
I can explain credentials, PAM, application firewalls and patching, and the three cloud controls: auditing and monitoring, access controls and MFA.
Starter: what you already know
Have a go
Starter: what you already know
3 questionsYour answers are marked here and are not kept. A college account keeps every student’s marks.
Access controls: credentials
Access control means giving the right people the right access, and managing it.
The first part is credentials. A password policy says a password must be long enough and complex enough. Users are also trained to guard their passwords: never share them, never write them on a note, never reuse one.
Privileged access management
Some accounts are powerful. An admin can delete users or change settings. Privileged access management controls and watches what these accounts do.
Extra checks apply: strong MFA, time-limited access and a log of every action. If something goes wrong, you can see who did it.
Application firewalls and patching
An application firewall controls and watches access and data going in and out of one app. It can block a bad request before the app sees it.
Patching means installing the latest security fixes for the software you have. Old software with known weaknesses is a favourite target.
Check: access controls
Have a go
Check: access controls
4 questionsYour answers are marked here and are not kept. A college account keeps every student’s marks.