Purpose of "NT AUTHORITY\SYSTEM" login in SQL Server 2005

Hi All

Does anybody know what the "NT AUTHORITY\SYSTEM" login create during a SQL Server 2005 instillation is used for?

Does this login pose a security risk, and can it be removed safely? It seems to me as if it is similar to the "Bultin\Administrator" login which we remove from our production servers?

Regards

Stevo

Yes it willbe similar to Builtin\Administrator if they got access and by default you remove the access to NT AUTHORITY\SYSTEM from SQL Server.

BOL

Built-in account. You can choose from a list of the following built-in Windows service accounts:

Local System account. The name of this account is NT AUTHORITY\System. It is a powerful account that has unrestricted access to all local system resources. It is a member of the Windows Administrators group on the local computer, and is therefore a member of the SQL Server sysadmin fixed server role

Security Note:

The Local System account option is provided for backward compatibility only. The Local System account has permissions that SQL Server Agent does not require. Avoid running SQL Server Agent as the Local System account. For improved security, use a Windows domain account with the permissions listed in the following section, "Windows Domain Account Permissions."

Network Service account. The name of this account is NT AUTHORITY\NetworkService. It is available in Microsoft Windows XP and Microsoft Windows Server 2003. All services that run under the Network Service account are authenticated to network resources as the local computer.

Security Note:

Because multiple services can use the Network Service account, it is difficult to control which services have access to network resources, including SQL Server databases. We do not recommend using the Network Service account for the SQL Server Agent service.