Comments on: Don’t remove the ‘super’ from sudo, like I did in Ubuntu

by: Scott Carpenter

Mon, 03 Sep 2007 19:46:57 +0000

Hi, Kevin. Please watch the personal attacks — I think that is quite an unfounded and uncalled-for accusation.

A discussion on the merits of spanking as a method of child discipline would be fine (even if off topic), but are you suggesting that everyone who advocates it is a pervert?

Maybe you didn’t mean to state it so harshly, but really, what did WK1 say to deserve that? I’m tempted to delete part of your comment–and still may do so–but I’d prefer to keep the censorship to a minimum.

I welcome your participation, but let’s keep it civilized. It’s unacceptable to make charges so carelessly.

by: KevinKid

Mon, 03 Sep 2007 17:07:17 +0000

I guess the guy that suggest kids to be spanked instead of using cryptography is a pervert. Yes, there are perverts who get off spanking kids, so watch out. Those people hide behind a curtain of conservatism and self-righteousness but at the end their impulses cannot be denied.

So, WK1, why don’t you keep things simple and TALK to your kids? Imagine a world in which IT security was achieved by means of violence. We’d live in a permanent state of war.

Use cryto and leave the kids’ butt alone.

by: Scott Carpenter

Mon, 26 Feb 2007 03:32:01 +0000

Well. Thanks, guys, for feeding my already well-developed sense of paranoia. :-)

I hear what you’re saying, but I still lean towards the password for the same reason I lock my front door. Even if there are many ways to defeat it, it makes me feel a little bit better. (Even if it’s only illusory or a placebo.)

Keyloggers are a nasty specter, whether from physical access or otherwise. For physical access, I’m more concerned about the simple theft of one of my computers than somebody sneaking in a keylogger, in which case crypto should be sufficient to prevent the thief from getting at the encrypted files.

by: WK1

Mon, 26 Feb 2007 00:00:15 +0000

There are a million and one ways to get into your computer from behind the keyboard. If you have a password, they can run single user. If you have a password for that too, they can use a boot disk. If you have cdrom boot disabled and your bios locked, they can use a backdoor bios password, or remove the battery. If you have your drive encrypted, they can install a keylogger in your keyboard and get all of your passwords.

Mario said: “As for keeping the kids out - they’re surprisingly crafty. If they know how to get the system into single user mode, chances are they know what they’re doing and the only way to stop them is with a good dose of crypto.”

Not every problem needs advanced techniques like passwords and cryptography. Sometimes, the best solution is a good ol’ fashioned spanking. Keep it simple.

by: Mario Stargard

Thu, 22 Feb 2007 14:39:48 +0000

It makes matters worse when you have a system that needs to have fsck run manually and you don’t have the install disk handy in the server room. You don’t want to be staring at a prompt for root when 300,000 users are bombarding the help desk with demands for their email.

As for keeping the kids out - they’re surprisingly crafty. If they know how to get the system into single user mode, chances are they know what they’re doing and the only way to stop them is with a good dose of crypto.

In my opinion, the prompt for root at single user boot is just an annoyance.

by: Scott Carpenter

Thu, 22 Feb 2007 02:14:11 +0000

Hi, Mario. I don’t think I’d say it’s completely pointless. Maybe there’s the situation where your kid or kid’s friend manages to start the machine in single user mode but doesn’t know any workarounds. They’re just goofing around. You might prevent some mischief that way. I realize it’s not going to do that much for you, but is there some reason it would actually make things *worse* to have the password?

(And no, I wouldn’t expect any greater level of security for Windows.) :-)

Thanks for stopping by and commenting.

by: Mario Stargard

Wed, 21 Feb 2007 22:28:29 +0000

“I don’t see what the problem of having a password on there could be. Maybe someone can enlighten me?”

Not being an Ubuntu user, I can’t really speak to that particular platform, but having administered plenty of Unix and Linux systems that prompt for the root password when booting single user mode, I can tell you it’s completely pointless to do so. Why prompt for the root password when it’s so easy to boot from the installation CD, mount the root filesystem and type “vi /etc/shadow”?

If you’re thinking that certain operating systems out of Redmond have an advantage here, you’d be wrong. There are some nice bootable CD’s out there, based on Linux of course, that allow you to remove the administrator’s password from the SAM database.

No physical security means no security at all — unless you encrypt the filesystems. Funnily enough, that’s just what plenty of folks are doing with their laptop computers.