From owner-freebsd-questions Thu Jan 18 09:26:26 1996 Return-Path: owner-questions Received: (from root@localhost) by freefall.freebsd.org (8.7.3/8.7.3) id JAA20507 for questions-outgoing; Thu, 18 Jan 1996 09:26:26 -0800 (PST) Received: from megasoft.tic.ab.ca (root@megasoft.tic.ab.ca [198.161.220.180]) by freefall.freebsd.org (8.7.3/8.7.3) with SMTP id JAA20487 for ; Thu, 18 Jan 1996 09:25:03 -0800 (PST) Received: (from philw@localhost) by megasoft.tic.ab.ca (8.6.12/8.6.9) id KAA27894; Thu, 18 Jan 1996 10:23:04 -0700 Date: Thu, 18 Jan 1996 10:23:04 -0700 (MST) From: Phillip White To: Michael Smith cc: Annelise Anderson , questions@FreeBSD.org Subject: Re: ethernet packet sniffer. In-Reply-To: <199601180408.OAA05262@genesis.atrad.adelaide.edu.au> Message-ID: MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII Sender: owner-questions@FreeBSD.org Precedence: bulk On Thu, 18 Jan 1996, Michael Smith wrote: > Annelise Anderson stands accused of saying: > > > > It sounds like the sys admin--or anyone with root privileges--can > > read absolutely everything going on--all e-mail in and out, all > > keyboard activity, and so forth. Is this right? Thanks > > Yup. This is one reason you don't let just anyone have root on a system. > (You can also read everyone's mail; this is a great way to pick up juicy > office gossip...) > Directed to Annelise: Yes, typically, it is the root of a host on the same domain as you, on your side of the closest gateway for that domain. So I guess this answers your "my net?" question, or at least this is how I understand it. ie. you have a domain "netcom.com" (:-P), anyone of the hosts myhome.netcom.com hishome.netcom.com etcetera, would have access to confidential traffic on the network if they are on an ethernet connection to the netcom.com router and are "root" of that host. Unfortunately some people play havock with such privvied information. And as far as reading private email and stuff, well, that's blatant disregard for ones privacy. Phil.