Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!wuarchive!uunet!mcsun!ukc!dcl-cs!aber-cs!athene!pcg From: pcg@cs.aber.ac.uk (Piercarlo Grandi) Newsgroups: comp.sys.dec Subject: Re: Summary: preventing dec3100 single user booting (protecting root) Summary: hahahahahahahaha! But it's an old joke, after all. Message-ID: Date: 2 Dec 90 15:20:26 GMT References: <1990Nov27.211621.1501@zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu> Sender: pcg@aber-cs.UUCP Organization: Coleg Prifysgol Cymru Lines: 29 Nntp-Posting-Host: odin In-reply-to: neruda@function.mps.ohio-state.edu's message of 27 Nov 90 21:16:21 GMT On 27 Nov 90 21:16:21 GMT, neruda@function.mps.ohio-state.edu (Steve Neruda) said: neruda> Thanks to everyone who responded to my question about preventing neruda> single user mode booting in order to protect root. There were neruda> basically three solutions: The best solution is of course to protect the network from any sysadmin who thinks that this is anything else than a security hazard (again: the greatest security hazard is a false sense of security). Or maybe to send him/her to a course on basic principles of security. Or maybe to induce him/her to read something about project Athena (or Andrew) and their solutions -- effective (if not perfect) solutions, instead of jokes, I mean -- to the problem. Maybe there should be a FAQ posting in this newgroup and this should be part of it -- the issue gets raised again and again always in the same depressing way. It is understandable that hard pressured syadmins have no time for hard thinking and reach for the quick and dangerous fix... Or maybe I should paraphrase the nice Feynman quote that somebody uses as their signature line: "For a successful security, reality must take precedence over public relations, for hackers cannot be fooled." -- Piercarlo Grandi | ARPA: pcg%uk.ac.aber.cs@nsfnet-relay.ac.uk Dept of CS, UCW Aberystwyth | UUCP: ...!mcsun!ukc!aber-cs!pcg Penglais, Aberystwyth SY23 3BZ, UK | INET: pcg@cs.aber.ac.uk