From owner-freebsd-stable  Sat Jul 21 12:45: 8 2001
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Date: Sat, 21 Jul 2001 15:45:05 -0400 (EDT)
From: Sung Nae Cho <sucho2@quasar.phys.vt.edu>
To: <freebsd-stable@FreeBSD.org>
Subject: Is FreeBSD more secure than Windows NT or Windows 2000?
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Hi,

One thing that makes me uncomfortable with both Linux and FreeBSD is that
unlike Windows NT, both UNIX clones seem to be less secure for a desktop
use. ( ** Note clones doesn't mean it's any less better than UNIX, it just
means, it's not officially considered UNIX by OPEN-GROUP ** )  I've used
Windows NT 4.0 since '98, Linux since '99, FreeBSD since '00 and finally
gone FreeBSD only on my laptop.  However, unlike, Windows NT 4.0, other
people can get access to my confidential files!  How?  Well, they can just
reinstall the FreeBSD without deleting my $HOME directory and as a root,
they can access all my files!  This is a great concern when my laptop gets
stolen!  Windows NT is very secure in that matter.  Simply reinstalling
Windows NT will not let you read someone else's file.  Also, it won't let
you reinstall Windows NT without verifying that you're the right
administrator!  During the reinstall, it asks for your root passwd.  If
the passwd doesn't match, it won't let you reinstall unless you're willing
to reinstall from scratch (reformat or erase everything before going on to
installation procedure).  Now I think that's being secure all the way.  Is
there anyway I can do that with FreeBSD?  For example, attaching signature
to all my files etc.




Regards,
Sung N. Cho,
Saturday, July 21, 2001.

Dept. of Physics,
Virginia Polytechnic Institute & State University.


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