On Fri, Oct 02, 2009 at 03:45:27PM -0600, David Burgess wrote: > On Fri, Oct 2, 2009 at 3:24 PM, Vagrant Cascadian <[email protected]> > wrote: > > in general, ssh-ing to thin-clients isn't very secure, as they all share the > > same host key, which is typically available to anyone who can mount the NFS > > share or NBD image. > > I don't think I understand the implications of all the thin clients > sharing a host key,
essentially, it completely compromises the security of ssh. ssh and other public-key encryption relies on the fact that the secret key is actually secret. exporting those secret keys over insecure protocols such as NBD and NFS compromise that. someone could pretend to be the thin client and stop your commands from running on the thin client (and make it look like they had been run), monitor all communications between your server and the thin clients (including sniffing for passwords), etc. it might even open the door for them to log the entire X session (ldm, rdesktop, whatever). > however the thin clients on this network are used for rdesktop exclusively. they can't boot from floppy, CD, or USB? plug a laptop into the network? > root is the only valid login account and the password is secure, so if I'm > not mistaken the keys are effectively off limits to non-admins, and in my > case this is a non-issue. Somebody correct me if I'm wrong. maybe with the level of risk you're concerned about it is a non-issue, maybe the above scenarios are not trivial or likely, but i would have no illusions that this is a secure configuration. the important thing is to understand the risks you're taking, and develop a security model appropriate to that. live well, vagrant ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Come build with us! The BlackBerry® Developer Conference in SF, CA is the only developer event you need to attend this year. Jumpstart your developing skills, take BlackBerry mobile applications to market and stay ahead of the curve. Join us from November 9-12, 2009. Register now! http://p.sf.net/sfu/devconf _____________________________________________________________________ Ltsp-discuss mailing list. To un-subscribe, or change prefs, goto: https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/ltsp-discuss For additional LTSP help, try #ltsp channel on irc.freenode.net
