After an admin installed software that I know nothing about, what can I do to ensure it is secure?

Someone else with admin privileges installed free software that has never undergone a security analysis as far as I know, plus he entered it in the domain admin account. I can't prevent what has already been done, but I'm not at ease with this, but I have to be careful not to create "political" problems, since the person who did it is a step above me on the organizational chart. Any thoughts on what I can do to make sure the software is benign?

Tags: business, security, software

Topic: Software

Answer this Question

Login or register to post answers
Permalink

Answers

2 total

dblacharski 13 weeks ago

I can understand your conflict. It comes with the territory, I think, that people who are "over" us sometimes put us in the position of trying to protect the company from their actions without stepping on any toes. I would try to see if you can change your domain administrator account password to keep the same thing from happening again. You didn't mention the specific software, but I would do some searches to see if anyone has experienced security issues or if a penetration test or code review has been performed. There is a good chance that it has, if the software has seen much enterprise use. Good luck!

Share this answer
Permalink

jimlynch 13 weeks ago

You should consider using anti-malware and/or antivirus software to scan it. Also consider doing some research on the software and where it was obtained. Google it and see if others have had security issues with it.

If you find that it has a bad track record, I suggest politely approaching whoever installed it and letting them know. Or better yet, send them an email with a head's up. That way you have a documented head's up that will protect you if the software causes problems.

Share this answer
Permalink

Answer this Question

Ask a question

Oracle NetBeans 7.2 supports the latest PHP, C++

The newest version of the Oracle NetBeans IDE (integrated developer environment) will come with support for the latest versions of PHP and C++.

Quickbooks Online outage leaves some customers in sour mood

Intuit's Quickbooks Online service suffered an outage this week that left "a small subset" of customers unable to access their data, but the company says the problems with the on-demand accounting software have now been fixed.

Coding contest shows how big data can improve health care

A recent coding competition in the Boston area brought together IT professionals, medical workers and others with an interest in health IT to show how data analytics can improve health care.

Minnesota state government executive branch picks Microsoft to improve e-mail, collaboration

The Executive Branch of the Minnesota state government had its 40,000 end users on a mishmash of e-mail systems when in 2008 its IT group, the Office of Enterprise Technology (OET), decided to tackle the problem.

New startup incubator: AOL's couches

Young entrepreneur Eric Simons extended AOL's Imagine K12 incubator participation by hiding and sleeping on couches in AOL buildings.

Unthethered jailbreak for iOS 5.1.1 available for download

Absinthe 2.0, the jailbreak for iOS 5.1.1, is ready and available for download, the Jailbreak Dream Team announced at the Hack in the Box conference in Amsterdam on Friday.

Are CEOs getting the social media thing?

IBM says a study it did of some 1,700 Chief Executive Officers worldwide found that many indeed - or should be -- grasping social media as a key enabler of collaboration and innovation.

Yahoo Axis may be game changer for search and the troubled company

With Axis, Yahoo is trying to change the search game, while also trying to change its image as a troubled company.

Microsoft clarifies Ballmer's claims of massive Windows 8 adoption

Reports earlier this week that Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer predicted unprecedented sales of Windows 8 were wrong on multiple counts, Microsoft and independent analysts agreed.

Researchers propose TLS extension to detect rogue SSL certificates

A pair of security researchers have proposed an extension to the Transport Layer Security (TLS) protocol that would allow browsers to detect and block fraudulently-issued SSL certificates.

White Papers & Webcasts

White Paper

IDC Vendor Spotlight

Your company needs backup and recovery that supports a tiered-recovery model. This IDC Vendor Spotlight examines the modern forces driving the advancements in today's data protection technologies, and a complete backup and recovery solution that works across physical, virtual and cloud environments.

White Paper

vRanger Helps Cut Replication Time by Almost 70%

There's a reason why more than 38,000 customers trust vRanger to protect their critical virtual data! In this Quest Software case study, see how vRanger helped Cornerstone Bancshares, Inc. cut replication time from days to minutes - and how this translated to real time and money savings.

White Paper

ESG: Product Brief: Quest vRanger 5.3 brings enterprise-class VMware protection to SMB's

Free paper: how virtualization impacts SMBs, and strategies for enterprise-class VMware protection

White Paper

Forrester Report: The ROI of Cloud Apps

Cloud apps continue to gain momentum in the enterprise as buyers are attracted to fast deployment speeds, low upfront costs, and ongoing flexibility to scale up or down as needs change. This report analyzes the five-year ROI for cloud apps across CRM, ERP, collaboration, and IT service management.

White Paper

The Cloud: Reinventing Enterprise Collaboration

Collaboration and content sharing are not, of course, new concepts. But cloud computing has changed the nature of collaboration, content sharing, document storage and project management to enable more efficient, faster-acting and cost-effective enterprises. According to a new study by IDG Research, the vast majority of knowledge workers (86%) placed a very high level of importance on collaborating with internal coworkers and external stakeholders, and having access to the most up-to-date corporate information. Read how organizations are realizing massive productivity gains by transitioning their content management solutions to cloud-based models.

See more White Papers | Webcasts