Perhaps the original poster could simply tell us where he obtained this information. Think we're talking about 2 different things here. ----- Original Message ----- From: "Adam Myrow" <amyrow@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> To: "Speakup is a screen review system for Linux." <speakup at braille.uwo.ca> Sent: Saturday, December 17, 2005 3:40 PM Subject: re: /etc/suauth > On Sat, 17 Dec 2005, Jude DaShiell wrote: > > > The analysis is flawed. A machine with 99 user accounts on it and a root > > account with only one line in /etc/suauth with one user account on it > > presents a hacker with 98 decoys and one hackable account. The hacker has to > > go to the trouble of stealing a user account password not a root account > > password and that is more difficult to do. > > I fail to see why you don't understand the problem you would create. > Essentially, you would be saying that any of your 99 users may su to root > without knowing the root password. Any one of them could now do whatever > they want without having to put forth any effort at all. The hacker could > be one of your users. If you are so concerned with the root password > getting out on the Internet, then you would be much better off forbidding > the use of the su command entirely, or at least blocking attempts to su to > root. No ordinary user should be using it anyhow. While you are at it, > prevent root logins via SSH. You can't do administration anywhere except > the console this way, but it's a lot better than opening up your machine > to anybody who just happens to try to su to root. > > _______________________________________________ > Speakup mailing list > Speakup at braille.uwo.ca > http://speech.braille.uwo.ca/mailman/listinfo/speakup
