-----Original Message-----
From: Drachen <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Date: Wednesday, May 06, 1998 2:56 PM
Subject: Re: root password unknown
>And it's not always malice that keeps root passwords secret -- lack of
>planning can do it too. (As my boss's boss occasionally says, if you get
>hit by a mack truck on your way home tonight, I don't want to be clueless
>on this..it goes for root passwords, too)
Exactly. That's why you want, at the very least, for the admin's boss to
know it.
The problem is finding people who can know the password without writing in
on a sticky note and putting it on their monitor, or without using it to
"play around a little".
I've seen networks where both happened, and I've also seen networks where
the CFO insisted on having the Windows NT administrator password, *AND* on
having himself in the "Domain Admins" group.
It can be disastrous on a Linux system if this happens. It's ridiculously
easy to, say, accidently change the ownership of every file on /home...
Or hit <enter> instead of \. I've done that a time or two myself. Seen
people hit <enter> instead of <backspace>. Really, really nasty things can
happen that way.
Just think of what can happen if you're trying a command out, and wanting to
add a flag that says "just testing", and you hit <enter> instead of \...
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