On Tue, 17 May 2005 14:26:51 -0600, Bob Beck
<[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
>
>> > What part of the words "Do *NOT* login as root" have you failed to
>> > understand?
>
> this is crap. logging in as root is not a sin. we recently
>removed this poopoo advice from OpenBSD anyway. See my rant about
>this in the archives.
>
> -Bob
With all due respect for your opinions (and contributions), I still
disagree. I wouldn't go so far as call logging in as root a sin but
having the root account accessible to world does increase your risk
exposure. Personally, I see no point in having a privileged user name
("root") both known and available for attack. Heck, even microsoft
suggests renaming the "Administrator" account to something else.
Though brute force attacks on strong passwords are not practical, they
are still possible and giving away a privileged account name simply
gives an attacker leverage.
Of course, if you're tasked with maintaining a system in an unmanned
station at the south pole, the ability to log in as root when
something goes wrong may be worth the added risk. On the other hand,
if you can physically access the system easily, there's little point
in running an unnecessary risk even if the risk is very small. I see
it as no different than having services shut off by default. In the
end, our job is to manage risk and opinions of what is acceptable risk
will vary wildly.
You also need to accept the vast disparity between yourself, a
seasoned and knowledgable sysadmin, and the new guy on the block who
just installed the OS for the first time and failed to use a strong
password on his root account. Is the new guy better off disabling root
access over ssh and not logging in as root or is he better off getting
hacked because of his novice mistake of using a weak root password?
Is the new guy better off having his shinny new linux box hacked
because he made the novice mistake of failing to shut down an
unnecessary service that was on by default?
Of course there's no way to "save the world" especially from itself
but I think if you can avoid a taking an unnecessary risk, you're
better off avoiding it. At least that's my take on it. I don't see it
as a crap/not-crap issue; it's just a difference of opinion on
acceptable risk. Though your opinion of root logins is obviously
different than mine, I hope now you can at least see why I hold the
opinion that I do. If I've missed something obvious out Risk
Management 101, please let me know what it is.
I don't think my opinion is crap but then again, that's just my
opinion of my opinion and I could be wrong on that one as well. ;-)
JCR
