Assigning ROOT a password

[Michael Leone]

On Mon, Apr 28, 2008 at 7:34 AM, David Fletcher
<kubuntu-users at thefletchers.net> wrote:
> At 12:19 28/04/2008, you wrote:
>  >On Mon, Apr 28, 2008 at 12:03 AM, Billie Walsh <bilwalsh at swbell.net> wrote:
>  >
>
> >Well, then ... if someone wanted to hack your system, it should be
>  >within their capabilities to determine what type of OS you're running.
>  >And since EVERYBODY knows that Ubuntu distros don't have a root
>  >password, it can't be too hard for them to then change their focus to
>  >cracking the other passwords on your system. Fot home systems, there's
>  >*usually) not dozens of logins, so that lessens the job.
>
>  I think the point here is that if the root password is enabled,
>  everybody knows what the user ID is - it is root. So the cracker
>  already knows the user ID and 'only' has to guess the password.
>
>  When the root login is disabled a cracker has no idea what logins are
>  available, and has little chance of guessing both a user ID and a
>  password at the same time even if it is a weak password.

My point was, that on a home system, there aren't that many logins, so
guessing your login is a lot easier than guessing a login out of the
1200 we have at work, for example. A home user typically has .. what
.. 5 logins at most? (not counting the ones created for applications,
and are pretty standard). And once they know that, they can target
your password.

It adds another layer of complexity, that's all. It's meant to
discourage "casual" attacks - the drive-by kind. If someone wants to
seriously get into *your* machine (targeting you, specifically),
having an unassigned root password will not be an insurmountable
barrier.

If it bothers you to have a root password, then remove it. "sudo
passwd -l root".

<http://www.debianadmin.com/enable-and-disable-ubuntu-root-password.html>

-- 
Michael J. Leone
<mailto:turgon at mike-leone.com>

PGP Fingerprint: 0AA8 DC47 CB63 AE3F C739 6BF9 9AB4 1EF6 5AA5 BCDF
Photo Gallery: <http://www.flickr.com/photos/mikeleonephotos>