Security

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roclin14
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Joined: Tue 30 Mar 2010, 14:12

Security

#1 Post by roclin14 »

What is there to prevent a hacker from using a puppy live CD to log in as root on another person's computer and erase important files on that person's hard drive?
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Béèm
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#2 Post by Béèm »

Good question.
As far as I know nothing.

An this is not limited to a boot from puppy.
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DMcCunney
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Re: Security

#3 Post by DMcCunney »

roclin14 wrote:What is there to prevent a hacker from using a puppy live CD to log in as root on another person's computer and erase important files on that person's hard drive?
Sure. Make sure the hacker doesn't have physical access to the machine. If someone has access to the actual machine, all bets are off.

One thing that might be done is to specify in the BIOS that the hard drive is the first place the machine will try to boot from, then set a BIOS password so it can't be changed without providing the password. The machine will still be able to read a CD, but not boot from it. (On my machines, I set the CD as the first boot option, then the HD, since I do a number of things that require booting from CD. If there's no CD in the drive, the machine boots from HD.)

This won't protect you from a case where someone with access to the machine can simply remove the HD and take it away to mount as a secondary drive in another machine and investigate at leisure.

Meanwhile, it's not a Puppy issue. There are an assortment of bootable CDs that will permit that sort of access, and the problem will be present for all of them.
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Lobster
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#4 Post by Lobster »

What is there to prevent a hacker from using a puppy live CD to log in as root on another person's computer and erase important files on that person's hard drive?
or . . . what is to prevent a gastro-geek removing the bios and eating it
or . . . a child of a tantrum temperament (aprox 2 years old) stuffing a peanut butter sandwich in the CD player
or . . . a militant penguin removing Windows and replacing with Linux
(Bravo I say)

ah the possibilities are endless . . . :D

someone might just decide to leave a Puppy Linux CD by a hacker prone PC for people to make up their own minds and behaviour . . .

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Béèm
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#5 Post by Béèm »

I like the militant penguin. 8)
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sfeeley
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#6 Post by sfeeley »

Ahh, dreams of using puppy loaded onto a usb to hack the villain's computer, steal the weapon files, and then drive off in an Aston martin, woman at my side . . . :D
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Béèm
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#7 Post by Béèm »

James Bond in disguise? :wink:
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