6.1 Password protect database backups

Information

The Sybase ASE server allows passwords to be set on database backups carried out by the
dump database command.

In addition to storing database backups in a folder with an appropriately restrictive ACL, a
password should be set as part of a defense-in-depth measure.

Rationale:

This setting acts as a potential mitigation in the event of an attacker compromising a server
containing database backups.

NOTE: Nessus has not performed this check. Please review the benchmark to ensure target compliance.

Solution

1. When executing the dump database command ensure a strong password is set via
the passwd option (where <Database> should be substituted for the relevant
database name, <File> for the full path to the database dump to be written and
<Password> for a strong password used to protected the dump):

dump database <Database> to '<File>' with passwd = '<Password>'

See Also

https://workbench.cisecurity.org/files/1612