2008/6/26 s. keeling <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>: > Trying to think coherently, ... [How's the weather/shrapnel? :-P] >
Hehe, they're both getting hotter. > Think scenarios. What's the screen door on a house good for? It'll > keep out a not too determined paperboy. They also piss off burglars > because they're noisy to deal with. Many new homes don't bother with > screen doors. > I thought that screen doors were meant for keeping out insects. In computer terms, that would be unwanted visitors who just happen by, not those determined to enter. > That scenario shows opportunities for baddies ranging from paperboys > through to determined burglars (and worse). That's a lot of > territory, and that's just one port into your house. > At home, I leave the door wide open and only the screen door protects us. The insects stay out. However, we do not have the petty crime problems that I am aware that some areas have. The Internet _does_ have a petty crime problem, I know. > Think about it, and you'll see it's much better to: > > - login your box. > > - ssh-add your key. > > - ssh somebox (anybox) > > somebox ~Dotan_ % su -c 'aptitude update && aptitude upgrade' > Password: > > Alternatively, one day you may find that your nephew/neice, who you've > invited in and told about Linux, has cracked root and blown away your > wife's documents. How's your backup situation? What are you going to > say to her? You're that machine's god. It and they need you to do > the right thing if it's going to continue being useful. > I do not think that they can crack root without my 8 character upper/lower/number password. Can they? How would having my own account help? As for the backup situation, it is excellent. I back up /home to an encrypted tar file once a month, and put it on a separate drive on the same computer. My laptop backups go there as well. Occasionally, I copy recent tar backups to a spare hard drive that I leave at the mother in law's. I am fanatical about backups, and test them about twice a year (when I reinstall the OS). > Worst case, one day you find out you're apparently part of a botnet > and have been unwittingly contributing to the spam/malware problem. > There've been Linux based botnets. > Again, how would having my own account, as opposed to sshing as the wife, help? > You certainly don't have to, but you certainly should. > I simply fail to see the benefit. Dotan Cohen http://what-is-what.com http://gibberish.co.il א-ב-ג-ד-ה-ו-ז-ח-ט-י-ך-כ-ל-ם-מ-ן-נ-ס-ע-ף-פ-ץ-צ-ק-ר-ש-ת A: Because it messes up the order in which people normally read text. Q: Why is top-posting such a bad thing?
