"Panosian, Estifan" <EPanosian@xxxxxx> wrote: Hello, > I am trying to make our database more > secure, one of the scenarios we > came up is: 'what if an internal hacker > (somehow) gets to our database server?' > 1) what kind of damages he/she could cause, and > 2) what we need to do to protect our databases? > 3) Could hacker be able to browse data? > Any article in this regard? > OS is Windows 2003, Oracle is 9.2.0.7. > The hacker has admin rights on the server. The oracle.exe process and thread objects on Windows have not been secured properly and have NULL DACLs - this means that *anyone* (as part of the Everyone special group) that has local access to the server or (remote access and the ability to run code) can exploit this to gain local system/admin privileges. (OpenThread() -> SetThreadContext() -> Set EIP to shellcode) Regardless of the operating system, though, (unless your running a well configured CMW/B1 system like Virtual Vault or Pitbull) there's not much you can do to stop a hacker that has root or administrator/local system privileges. Without even going through the database server an attacker with this level of privilege can go straight after the datafiles. Encryption of data is the best solution - of course you'll need to ensure that the attacker doesn't have access to the keys, though! For more information on Oracle and database security see http://www.databasesecurity.com/ Cheers, David Litchfield p.s. The NULL Dacl problems are not Microsoft's fault before anyone blames them... Send instant messages to your online friends http://uk.messenger.yahoo.com