Disempowering the Singular Sysadmin?

An anonymous reader writes "Practically every computer system appears to be at the mercy of at least one individual who holds root (or whatever other superuser identity can destroy or subvert that system). However, making a system require multiple individuals for any root operation (think of the classic two-key process to launch a nuke) has shortcomings: simple operations sometimes require root, and would be enormously cumbersome if they needed a consensus of administrators to execute. There is the idea of a Distributed Administration Network, which is like a cluster of independently administered servers, but this is a limited case for deployment of certain applications. And besides, DAN appears still to be vaporware. Are there more sweeping yet practical solutions out there for avoiding the weakness of a singular empowered superuser?"

Comments

You're not thinking evil enough.

[Seumas]

Only hire admins who have a family. Make it a requirement of their contract that their child have a small explosive device implanted in them that is tied to the health of the systems that are administrated. Will not only ensure against nefarious activities, but make five-nines and above almost guaranteed.