magarity kerns (6/11/2008)
tonyf (6/11/2008)
Why do all these articles assume that the DBA can be trusted?Because the DBA knows that independent auditors will eventually catch up with him/her. Maybe not this audit cycle, but someday. Since the DBA's pay and bonuses are a lot less likely to be oriented to benefit cheating, unlike, say, a star sales rep, the DBA is among the least likely to be untrustworthy.
At some point there just isn't a next level of watchers to watch the watchers, so don't let the paranoia keep your organization from functioning.
great point. its what i have felt for a long time. I was so frustrated when the auditor told me that a system like this wouldnt help, cause i could edit the data. he said the same about a spreadsheet report, being that its not an acceptable form of data reporting, because its editable.
so i really got his goose one day when he asked for a screenshot (assumed the best form of verification). I went to my virus software, and did a screenshot of the dates of files, then edited them in my image software, putting the date a few hundred years in the future... and it blew his mind that that was no longer a valid and safe form of reporting...
it always comes back to trust. If i have something watching me, im more likely to be honest. the more monitoring that occurs, the better the higher ups will feel, and the auditors. and i am free to do my job, which i would do honestly in the first place...