The security of UNIX

[pdl at root44.UUCP]

*** FLAME ON ***

``The only things that need guarding are those which are guarded''.
(Or to put it another way: the more paranoid you are about your system,
the more people will try to break it.)

The only system administrators who find systems being broken are those who
think (or say) that it can't be done.
Sure, let's discuss UN*X security, but do it OPENLY, otherwise you'll just
be encouraging your local system-smashers to bust the news system to
enable them to read the `secure news'.
Let us not fool ourselves: NO timesharing system is secure.
If you want to you can tap into the cables connecting to the terminals,
and read logins and passwords off as people type them
(even if cables are armoured, you could probably do the same thing with
a sensitive enough pickup), so please don't say ``I've got nearly all of
the security bugs out'', it's just plain not true.

To summarise: paranoia is contagious, if the system boss has it, so will the
hackers who use/abuse the system. This is counter-productive and anti-social.

*** FLAME OFF ***

I'm sorry if this sounds abusive, but systems administrators always get a
reputation for paranoia anyway, and this sort of thing just encourages it.

			Yours in anticipation of REALLY friendly systems,
				Dave Lukes (...!vax135!ukc!root44!pdl)