Puppy Linux Discussion Forum

[magerlab]

how about a TFP pupplet ?
A pupplet for Tin foil hats

[sikpuppy]

How about PoundPuppy. This is a puplet I am designing.

It's a Puplet with no networking, no Firewire, no USB, no WiFi, no browsers, no chat, no email, no hard drives, no floppies, totally locked down with SElinux and 10 firewalls, 5 antivirus suites, 64 character password length enforcement, hourly password change enforcement, shut down after 30 seconds inactivity, lock CD drive while in Puppy.

Oh and no music, videos, documents, games, graphics, fun, keyboard, mouse and no monitor. No sound at all. Definitely no printers.

Basically you have to wait until the cd stops spinning. You know it's probably booted then and ready for the safest computing experience ever.

[aragon]

i think secure hw is much better than secure sw



aragon

[Bruce B]

My current machine is worth, if I'm lucky about $90

If I downloaded Ubuntu and burned it to an opitical disk, the disk costs me
about 35 cents.

Considering I already have Linux partitions and GRUB, and a fairly fast
machine, the basic install would take about 1/2 an hour.

Then another hour or so adding packages from the repository.

Ubuntu protects me from things I don't need protection from. The setup
disk is in my room. The respository is still available.

It doesn't protect me from what I need protection from, namely my user
files.

I am the administrator of my $90 machine. This is the default, nobody
else to do the job.

As the admin, I backup my user files and configuration tweaks to a
separate device.

If the system goes bonkers on me, I would be wasting time if I spent
more time trying to fix it, than it would take to insert the install disk and
reinstall it the system.

~

Sometimes it pays to use yer noggin

[Sylvander]

1. I boot from an optical disk [CD-RW].

2. Make a pupsave on an ext3 partition on a Flash Drive.
And set this up so it doesn't auto-save during the session [I can save manually].
And gives me the choice "to save or not to save" at shut-down.

3. And copy the pupsave to a folder on an ext3 partition on an internal [10GB] HDD dedicated solely to 6 Puppies.
And I edited a file on the ISO so the pupsave on the HDD is treated as if on a Flash Drive.
And [as with 2 above] set this up so it doesn't auto-save during the session [I can save manually].
And gives me the choice "to save or not to save" at shut-down.

4. And then I make backup copies of the pupsave at key points...
[Like immediately prior to making an important/risky change that will be copied to the pupsave].

5. If I noticed something amiss [%CPU or Xload shooting up to MAX]...
I could:
Power-off.
Or...
Shut-down without saving any changes back to the pupsave.
Only if these failed would I restore a backup/copy of the pupsave.

6. I've never [not that I'm aware of] experienced any problem as a result of running as root....
And never seen anyone report that either.

7. When I say this kind of thing at the PC-Guide forums...
classicsoftware [a Moderator who spends 99% of his time helping people fix their infected Windows] gets angry and attacks me.
And yet I've never been banned. [12,717 posts since 1998]
He ridicules me because I offer Puppy Linux as a solution to various problems experienced by users of Windows.
I NEVER reply to attacks or ridicule.
I only offer solutions to problems.
e.g. See post #7 here.

[Bruce B]

[nooby]

[dejan555]

[Sylvander]

1. "Well I have....I mention two of them"
In my view, neither of those count because...
(a) The 1st was never confirmed, right?
Only confirmed examples should be counted.

(b) In the 2nd case, access was GIVEN, so that isn't a lack of Puppy security, it's a lack of USER security.

[nooby]

Guys I do apology, I missed the part of that him gave him permission first.

Did he give that despite him knowing it would be abused or what? Did he get tricked into it or what?

Gave access how?

[nooby]

Thanks for the link that was the one I talked about yes!

But if one read what 8-bit write

[dawg]

I'm pretty sure others have said it before (I only come here occasionally, so I can't really know), but while the thread is alive...
I understand why running as root shouldn't be a big deal, but let me share a couple of points for Not wanting to run as root:

(1) - Imagine you have a single computer in a household populated by more than 1 person, all sharing that same computer, young kids and/or other computer-nonproficient and possibly naughty users included.
- The computer has a harddrive where a bunch of each user's stuff that doesn't fit on USB flash drives (videos, music...) is stored that none of the users wants screwed with by the rest of the users.
- Running as root will allow screwing with the said files by anyone (else) in the household, whereas having multiple users added to the system and proper access permissions set for each user's files who can then login separately, will not.
- This is one major point against running as root, even if everybody in the household loves Puppy otherwise.

(2) - Even as the single user of a computer, if one isn't the most cautious or "lucid" computer user at all times, things can get screwed up, and maybe even rootkits or exploits caught which can then progress to the root system and hijack it or do other naughty things to it (and everyone's files).
- Nevermind having more people (kids) use the computer - the chances of such a thing happening rise heavily.


I hope this helps everyone understand eachother better.
Feel free to copy/paste these, and even add more points if I missed any

[puppyluvr]

Hello,
Put the stuff you care about in a hidden directory called "system" and it will be safe...LOL...If you are really concerned, bury it in /ect or /opt...above root..
If you are REALLY concerned.....separate save files...
IE..Public, and
Touch it and die....

[8-bit]

How about creating a password protected, encrypted pupsave file for each user?
Since the base SFS file is relatively safe from modification, that just might work on a PC with multiple users.

[Flash]

Even if it is encrypted, a save file on a shared hard disk could be deleted. How about everyone has their own multisession CD or DVD? When they're done using the computer, they remove their DVD and put it in a safe place.