Security of using sudo rather than su?

[Alexander Skwar]

Dennis Kaarsemaker <dennis at kaarsemaker.net>:

> On do, 2006-09-14 at 10:18 +0100, Adam Funk wrote:
>> I've read the official explanation of the locked root account [1] and
>> it still seems to me that this system can reduce security (in
>> comparison with the traditional approach) because an attacker
>> (especially a remote attacker) can gain root privileges by cracking
>> one password (the main user's) rather than two (since normally root
>> isn't allowed to log in over ssh).
>> 
>> Why is this view wrong?
> 
> Because normally, root *can* login over ssh and 'root' is a very
> well-known username. So sudo actually doubles security by having to
> guess both a username and a password instead of just a password.

Hm. But you have to guess only one username and one password, while
without sudo, you have to guess one username and two passwords.

How is the security doubled when using sudo?

Alexander Skwar
-- 
The last time I saw him he was walking down Lover's Lane holding his own hand.
                -- Fred Allen