Most hackers will have obtained root access to your system rather quickly, so although making the /proc filesystem permitions setable is a good idea, the average hacker with root access can circumvent this. Also, how many hackers will know to look for a /proc/speakup directory? From a remote point of view you can't see that speakup is running on a box unless you know what you are looking for, config files in /etc; /proc etc. A hacker can just as easily trash your sound volumes or file systems if they have root. Once a user is in the system; security is questionable at best. Keep hackers out of the system by preventing them from getting past the login prompt. /bin/login is your first line of defence; use it. Bad passwords will let more script kiddies into your system faster than the esoteric buffer overflow only exploitable on the night of a fullmoon whilst the wolves are howling at the back (not the front) door :-) Keep passwords in the clear off the network. Regular pop3 is a bad thing, unless you use md5 authentication; if you must telnet, use ssltelnet on both ends. If you must ssh, keep it up to date. A recent buffer overflow in openssh was fixed that could allow root access. If you want total security, unplug your computer and turn it off. If you want excellent security; don't connect it to the internet :-) Regards, Kerry. On Wed, Feb 14, 2001 at 04:30:44PM -0800, Tyler Spivey wrote: > immagin tis: a hacker is threating your system, and ou ar running speakup. > though theirs no way ot shut it off, with /proc/speakup you can mess it up. sinceany ser cn write t it (i think), > people could adjust your rat and stuff while they do their work, and by the time you had it running, you'd be dead. > i'm lucky i'm behind some kind of firewall myself, for when i get better internet i'll be faced with maybe a hacker or 2. > and i fi bring my braille lite home, i'll probably plug it in again with speakup. > > _______________________________________________ > Speakup mailing list > Speakup at braille.uwo.ca > http://speech.braille.uwo.ca/mailman/listinfo/speakup > -- -- Kerry Hoath: kerry at gotss.eu.org Alternates: kerry at emusys.com.au kerry at gotss.spice.net.au or khoath at lis.net.au ICQ UIN: 8226547
