The problem with bein logged in as root is you can inadvertently really screw
your system up. Logged in as root you can wipe out whole directories, hack
scripts, etc. and render your system useless and the system will let you
(rarely with any warning at all). Logging in as user limits what you can do
to the system, and prevents you from accidently wiping out system files, etc.
When I was on NT, I was logged in as admin all of the time, because it was so
difficult to get all of the permissions setup right for every thing to work
correctly. Also any time I wanted to do admin work I had to log out as user
and log back in as admin to take care of adding users, etc.
In Linux I run as User all the time. Why? If I write a program that goes
haywire it will not do damage to the system, just to my home dir (if
anything). As user I can do all of the day to day things I need to. If I need
to do admin functions a simple "su -" and the root password at an xterm and
I can take care of 95% of the admin things I need to do. Then I exit su, and
I'm back to mild manner user, with little risk of damaging anything.
The bottom line is, as user you can do most of what you need to do. As root
you can do lots of damage. Only run as root when you need to. Run as user the
rest of the time. It will save you from accidently deleting vmlinus and
having to reinstall the whole system after you just got everything working
perfect.
Niclas Hedhman wrote:
> Now, when you make these statements, I really need to know how this can be
> possible. Just making the statements, without any kind of explainations
> does not improve my impression of Linux being a secure environment.
>
> Give me an concrete example how someone can gain access to my computer
> while I am logged in as root on the local console.
> I would also like to see other people, who are more experienced than I am,
> to comment on this.
>
> Thank you.
> Niclas
>
> Steve Youngs wrote:
>
> > * luciano <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes:
> >
> > > Everywhere i read about not using the root account all the time, but i
> > > don't see where's the problem in doing it.
> > > I use linux on 1 machine not conected to a lan, only with a dial
> > > up connection to internet. My question is, it's really necesary for me
> > > to have another account besides root (i'm the only one who uses linux
> > > in this pc)?
> >
> > Yes...
> >
> > Because you have just told a large number of people that you have a
> > dial-up connection to the internet and you only run as root. Any
> > would-be cracker out there is now thinking..."hmm, he only runs as
> > root... bet he hasn't set up a firewall or any other kind of
> > security... next time he's on the net I'll see what's interesting on
> > his box or what interesting things I can do from his box..."
> >
> > Yes...
> >
> > Because root doesn't have limitations and it's good to have limits,
> > especially when you are new. As an example, rm -rf / will only give a
> > permission denied error as a normal user, but it will delete _all_
> > files on _all_ mounted read-write filesystems on you computer. Now,
> > you might think that "oh well, I can just boot to windows". Guess
> > what? If your windoze partitions are mounted when you rm -rf / as
> > root, you have just lost windows as well as Linux.
> >
> > Yes...
> >
> > Because if you ever use IRC as root, at best you'll get laughed at.
> > At worst you'll lose every file on your computer, because someone
> > will just help themselves to your system.
> >
> > There's lots of other reasons but hopefully you get the picture. It's
> > up to you to decide whether or not you will continue to use root all
> > the time. If you do, the chances of you having to re-install
> > everything because of a stupid mistake are incredibly high.
> >
--
Robert B. Haehnel
Ice Engineering Research Division
Cold Regions Research and Engineering Laboratory
72 Lyme Road
Hanover, NH 03755-1290
Phone: (603)646-4325
Fax: (603)646-4477
e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
web: http://www.crrel.usace.army.mil
