Date: Sun, 17 Mar 2002 07:33:07 +0200 From: Giorgos Keramidas <keramida@ceid.upatras.gr> To: Peter Leftwich <Hostmaster@Video2Video.Com> Cc: questions@freebsd.org Subject: Re: An idiot, his box, and a security question [PuTTY telnet/ssh] Message-ID: <20020317053307.GA7491@hades.hell.gr> In-Reply-To: <20020317001244.Y30953-100000@earl-grey.cloud9.net> References: <PBEIJOCAMIIHMPBPAJAGGEGFCCAA.howard@tasfamily.net.au> <20020317001244.Y30953-100000@earl-grey.cloud9.net>
next in thread | previous in thread | raw e-mail | index | archive | help
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
Want to link to this message? Use this URL: <https://mail-archive.FreeBSD.org/cgi/mid.cgi?20020317053307.GA7491>