Date: Sat, 26 Oct 2002 15:52:23 +0100 From: Matthew Seaman <m.seaman@infracaninophile.co.uk> To: "freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.org" <freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG> Subject: Re: 4.6.2 spurious reboot, fwiw Message-ID: <20021026145223.GA19530@happy-idiot-talk.infracaninophi> In-Reply-To: <3DBA9F2A.B53419B@earthlink.net> References: <3DBA9F2A.B53419B@earthlink.net>
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On Sat, Oct 26, 2002 at 08:56:58AM -0500, Walter wrote:
> As a "newbie" reading the e-mails in the forum, I'd
> like to mention that the log (from 'last') shows my
> FBSD 4.6.2 system rebooted a little after 2 last night.
> I had 'telnet'ed' in and had been playing some games
> but had logged off by 10:30 and didn't log in again
> until 7ish this morning.
Do you have a UPS? Sounds to me like you had a momentary dip in the
mains voltage. PC's can be very sensitive to that sort of thing, and
will reboot themselves when other equipment (clocks, radios, videos)
just carry on reguardless.
Usually if someone or something hacks your box, the last thing they
want to do is make you aware that they've broken in. Something as
noticable as rebooting the machine is usually the result of a mistake,
and it's generally some other more subtle sort of traces left behind
on the system that will alert the sysadmin.
The reason that "they" don't want to be discovered is simple: your
compromised box is useful to them as a base from which to attack other
machines, and which further muddies the trail back to who they really
are. Securing your machine is not just about protecting yourself:
it's also about being a good net-citizen and protecting your
neighbours.
Of course, simply by running FreeBSD you've foxed 99% of the script
kiddies and nasty-ware out in the wild. But that's no cause for
complacency: any one fancy a dose of the Scalper worm?
Cheers,
Matthew
--
Dr Matthew J Seaman MA, D.Phil. 26 The Paddocks
Savill Way
Marlow
Tel: +44 1628 476614 Bucks., SL7 1TH UK
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