[techtalk] Re: techtalk digest, Vol 1 #447 - 11 msgs

[Gina Lanik]

other people on this list have said what I felt like saying, so there's 
only one thing left... if you're -absolutely- sure that you don't want 
this maintenance feature up you can go and change /etc/inittab 
accordingly (as it is done by default on a Debian system).

cheers,

Gina

On Fri, 11 May 2001 22:24:40 EDT, "Linda MacPhee-Cobb" writes:
>Hi All,
>
>I have been painstakingly going through the lilo documentation.  I have not 
>found in the documentation, on my computer or at sunsite, a single reference 
>to this back door into my computer.  It is not even documented in the source 
>code.
>
>The fact we have a back door that allows root access that is undocumented is 
>something I would expect from M$ not linux.
>
>Why isn't this documented in an easy to find location?  That is very 
>troubling.  Especially since linux users scream bloody murder when back 
>doors are found in Windows.
>
>If I wanted a computer OS that didn't need a password I would use Windows 
>95.  One of the reasons for choosing linux was the security.  Right now 
>Win2000 looks like a better option.  The only way to boot this machine is 
>from the hard drive.  I am not so stupid as to forget root password, nor am 
>I pleased that the people writing this system appear to have set it up for 
>fools.
>
>If there is one undocumented back door there are many.
>
>Who are these back doors built in for?  Clearly not the users or there would 
>be documentation.

-- 
The correct plural of virus is "vi".  Throw enough of the little buggers
together and they neutralize each other and you get a usable text editor.
Anthony de Boer - ASR
--