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Well said. The users directory is the most important part of the box, since that is where the data is.
If the box is serving webpages or SQL or something there need be no user directory to speak of. For a desktop box, the user directory is important, but let's be honest: the desktop is just not linux's strong point right now. (I use it on my desktop exclusively, but that just means I know exactly how few people are ready to).
"If the box is serving webpages or SQL or something there need be no user directory to speak of. For a desktop box, the user directory is important, but let's be honest: the desktop is just not linux's strong point right now. (I use it on my desktop exclusively, but that just means I know exactly how few people are ready to)."
True enough, but is all how the box is set up. Some of mine server web pages, and they do so from a user directory so I leave the system partitions intact. For an ISP, most of the web pages are served from user directories. Want a customer ticked off? Tell them that their home directory was lost.






Member since:
2005-12-02
"You are correct that the security of $HOME is a neglected topic; sometimes attacks are launched to get the information in $HOME and not to try to "own" the box. This does go against the dogma that no one cares what happens to a users directory/information on a *NIX box."
Well said. The users directory is the most important part of the box, since that is where the data is. Unfortunately very few people seem to understand that. Owning the box is bad, but the loss of data is much worse. On the other hand, if someone owns the box they can compromise ALL of the home directories, instead of possibly just that of the 1 user that does something stupid.