Alan E. Davis wrote:
I helped a friend install Ubuntu GNU/Linux on his laptop, he left
town, forgot his passwords, and I promised to breakin for him, so he
can re-do his passwords. Told him all I have to do is run Knoppix,
access his partition, and delete the little x in the password file.
Then he would reset his root password in be back in business.
He felt betrayed. I understand why, I think: what's secure about
GNU/Linux if anyone can boot the system and reset his passwords?
That's NOT a Linux problem. If you've got physical access,
you can easily break in (same for Windows, BTW).
I said, Dunno. I'll ask on the Gentoo list.
How can anyone easily avoid the problem of anyone being able to access
the guts of his machine using a live CD?
Remove CD-Rom.
Put Computer in a solid box which cannot (easily) be opened,
so that it's "impossible" to attach an external CD-Rom.
I already thought of one:
use the BIOS to disallow booting from a CD or Floppy, and set a
password on the BIOS.
Most BIOS support either a "master password"
or a way to reset a password (some pins on the
motherboard).
Don't know whether all BIOSes will allow this,
and anyway, isn't it possible on a lot of motherboards to short out
the EPROM and thus reset the password of the BIOS?
Yes.
Alexander Skwar
--
Hey Satan, didja hear the news? A war just broke out up on earth.
Meet Saddam Hussein, my new partner in evil.
--
gentoo-user@gentoo.org mailing list
