From owner-freebsd-questions Sat Mar 16 21:33:20 2002 Delivered-To: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Received: from mailsrv.otenet.gr (mailsrv.otenet.gr [195.170.0.5]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 7D73837B41C for ; Sat, 16 Mar 2002 21:33:14 -0800 (PST) Received: from hades.hell.gr (patr530-a019.otenet.gr [212.205.215.19]) by mailsrv.otenet.gr (8.12.2/8.12.2) with ESMTP id g2H5X9jo017558; Sun, 17 Mar 2002 07:33:11 +0200 (EET) Received: from hades.hell.gr (hades [127.0.0.1]) by hades.hell.gr (8.12.2/8.12.2) with ESMTP id g2H5X8nI007564; Sun, 17 Mar 2002 07:33:08 +0200 (EET) (envelope-from keramida@freebsd.org) Received: (from charon@localhost) by hades.hell.gr (8.12.2/8.12.2/Submit) id g2H5X8a5007563; Sun, 17 Mar 2002 07:33:08 +0200 (EET) (envelope-from keramida@freebsd.org) Date: Sun, 17 Mar 2002 07:33:07 +0200 From: Giorgos Keramidas To: Peter Leftwich Cc: questions@freebsd.org Subject: Re: An idiot, his box, and a security question [PuTTY telnet/ssh] Message-ID: <20020317053307.GA7491@hades.hell.gr> References: <20020317001244.Y30953-100000@earl-grey.cloud9.net> Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Disposition: inline In-Reply-To: <20020317001244.Y30953-100000@earl-grey.cloud9.net> User-Agent: Mutt/1.3.27i Sender: owner-freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG Precedence: bulk List-ID: List-Archive: (Web Archive) List-Help: (List Instructions) List-Subscribe: List-Unsubscribe: X-Loop: FreeBSD.ORG On 2002-03-17 00:17, Peter Leftwich wrote: > > You can then login with your normal use name/password then "su" to super user. > > I still don't get this whole "don't use root" issue. If I had installed > Win2000 at home (after having had EEEEnough of Win98SR1), then I would've > created a login with Administrator rights. I login as root to my FreeBSD > 4.5-RELEASE box all the time. The "su" command confuses me, so I stay way > away from it, besides, I am constantly tweaking *system-wide* and > installing programs, so why would I ever login from userland?? > > Can someone clarify this Unix no-no please? a) It's dangerous. A simple command line error, and you can wipe away disks, erase important files, send users to oblivion, etc. But more importantly... b) If you log into the system as a normal user and then use "su" to become root, the user-ID change is logged. You know when and who used "su" to do administrative work. I know that this sounds like an unreasonable waste of time for a single user workstation, but it is important in other environments, and you won't be hurt by acquiring "good habits" while working at home. Giorgos Keramidas FreeBSD Documentation Project keramida@{freebsd.org,ceid.upatras.gr} http://www.FreeBSD.org/docproj/ To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org with "unsubscribe freebsd-questions" in the body of the message