Chapter 8 – Security

Publisher Summary This chapter discusses the account/password security mechanisms. The first defense of a secure system is to permit only authorized users to access it. The manager has several parameters to consider when defining his or her password policy. The OpenVMS has the capability to manage account passwords and other account parameters. It can monitor and control account intrusions. The OpenVMS also supports three independent mechanisms that enforce system security. These three security mechanisms are access control list (ACL), user identification code (UIC), and system privileges. The ACL is able to grant privileges on a user-by-user basis, or user groups can be defined to ease the manager's task. If the ACL does not specify an access privilege, then the UIC mechanism is examined. The UIC grants privileges at the user level and/or at a predefined group level. The ACL and UIC mechanisms identify the system privilege of the user to access a specific resource in a specific way such as no access, read-only, or read/write.