The report, which took in a survey of 185 IT administrators and help desk operatives, singles out applications such as Quickbooks and Sage, as well as in-house developed applications, as making the management of desktop security the IT equivalent of the Wild West.
According to BeyondTrust, a specialist in privileged authorisation management and access control, the survey of 185 admins is significant, as they are collectively responsible for over 250 000 individual Windows desktops.
Researchers found that, in business with more than 2,500 desktops, with more than 2500 desktops, it was in-house bespoke applications (51% of respondents), and a range of ‘other legacy apps’ (40%) including old mainframe apps, Flash and Adobe Software, and rogue apps such as iPhone apps, and gaming software, which force IT administrators to elevate privileges to Administrator or Super User status.
In enterprises with fewer than 2500 desktops, meanwhile, it was Intuit QuickBooks (33% of respondents), which most often forced IT administrators to elevate network access privileges to the more risky Administrator or Super User status.
Commenting on the report, Geoff Haggart, BeyondTrust's president, said that legacy apps make it increasingly difficult for IT administrators to thwart attacks by people with legitimate access to an organisation's IT resources.
"These insider threats represent a growing problem across the globe, frustrating admins, auditors and managers who lack the resources to properly identify them, oversee their behaviour and protect mission-critical IT assets", he said.