Local Administrative Password Management

The Challenge

If your organization is like most, you probably change the password on your workstation either monthly or quarterly. When you login to this system, you may notice an alternative ID called Administrator. This ID uses a Privileged Password to gain super-user access to your workstation.

These Administrator IDs are pre-loaded by the manufacturer with passwords and cannot be disabled. However, these passwords need to be updated manually, a time-consuming process even for enterprises with tens of thousands of employees. Perhaps that's why IT Professionals reported that they never change the password for Local Administrative accounts on 1 in every 5 workstations (SOURCE: Cyber-Ark Password Survey 2006.)

The most common type of hacker is called a script-kiddie. They break into systems by downloading lists of Administrator IDs from the internet and use them to break into systems. Recent script-kiddie attacks have resulted in negative headlines for organizations such as MSNBC, The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Pentagon, The Air Force, The Navy and NASA.

The Solution

One solution for the challenge of securing, managing, automatically updating and logging Local Admin passwords is the Enterprise Password Vault™ (EPV.) Our solution will automatically change Administrator Passwords across tens of thousands of target workstations, all without any degradation in system performance.