Adecvax.181
net.misc
utzoo!decvax!aps
Sun Mar  7 12:12:19 1982
mesg and the sec.whole
>From aps Sat Mar  6 03:14:42 1982
Subject: Re: Security and Smart Terminals
Newsgroups: net.unix-wizards

Responding to dmmartindale of watmath:
When you set mesg to n (accept no messages), what happens is that the write
permissions on your terminal are turned off to others.  This means that
no one could do the following:
	(echo ESC LOOPBACK ; cd / ; rm -f -r ) > ttyx
where ttyx was a logged in root.  In this case, depending upon the terminal,
the person at that terminal might not see anything until the line
	echo ESC LOOPBACKOFF > ttyx
is sent.  At lease with biff y set, you get an indication that something
is comming to your screen and when it doesn't, well you know something
is wrong.  But, yes.  You are correct in that someone could mail you
a bomb.
	Armando Stettner
	DEC UEG