System Administrator - System Administrator Privileges

System Administrator Privileges

The term "system administrator" may also be used to describe a security privilege which is assigned to a user or users of a specific computer, server, network or other IT System.

The Administrator level of system access permits that user to gain access to, and perform high level configuration features of the system.

This user privilege level is more commonly referred to within a computer or IT system as "administrator" (without the epithet "system"). It may also be called superuser or root.

For example a computer may have a user named "Administrator" or "Root" which has a security level sufficient to install software, or give other users access to the system. Alternatively a user of a system may be assigned to an "Administrators" group, membership of which grants them the same privilege as the Administrator user. These users may be referred to as System Administrators, referring only to the system privilege level, rather than the job function.

For security reasons, the name of an Administrator user or Administrators security group is often changed locally so that it is less easy to guess, in order to reduce system vulnerability to access by hackers.