On Tue, 07 Mar 2000, Jerry L Kreps wrote:
Sander van Vugt wrote:
Hi,
I'm risking the most stupid question of the year, but I do it anyway. I often hear things like "If you ever link to the internet as root you are asking for a world of hurt".
Could anyone please explain what excactly can happen (and im not talking about my own stupidities) when I'm connected to the Internet as root?
Sander
Would you go off to work and leave the front door of your home open, with a sign on the door that says "Come on in, steal everything I have, my credit cards, my jewels, my stereo and tv, then burn the place down. My insurance doesn't care because it won't cover it."
That's what is would be like connecting to the internet as root, except that you don't have to 'go to work'. You can be on your PC typing aways, as I am now, and some cracker could take control of your PC and do the what I mentioned above. Even though SuSE does a good job of installing a relatively safe system, running as root is a bad, bad thing to do, even if you don't connect to the Internet. JLK
LOL; perhaps it's not as simple as making a connection to the box and walking in `the front door', as Jerry put it, but it's certainly unwise. Anyway, why are you asking? Why would you log in as root unless you are doing *system*administration*? The root account (AKA Super User account) is *ONLY* for system administration when a privelaged user is not enough. Any time you use the root account, you're asking for real trouble, with or without an Internet connection. -- -=|JP|=- Jon Pennington | Atipa Linux Solutions -o) jpennington@atipa.com | Kansas City, MO /\\ 816-241-2641 x121 | http://www.atipa.com _\_V -- To unsubscribe send e-mail to suse-linux-e-unsubscribe@suse.com For additional commands send e-mail to suse-linux-e-help@suse.com Also check the FAQ at http://www.suse.com/Support/Doku/FAQ/