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RE: Best explanation why NOT to run as administrator/root
Subject:RE: Best explanation why NOT to run as administrator/root From:Dan Goldstein <DGoldstein -at- cytomedix -dot- com> To:"techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com" <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com> Date:Wed, 1 May 2013 14:00:48 -0400
I'm saying in a VM environment. But I've never worked at a company that I would define as paranoid, so I might be talking from the wrong zip code here.
-----Original Message-----
From: McLauchlan, Kevin
Sent: Wednesday, May 01, 2013 1:57 PM
To: Dan Goldstein; techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com
Subject: RE: Best explanation why NOT to run as administrator/root
You are saying: In a corporate environment, on the corporate network, in a security conscious (paranoid) company, where the job itself was not to (mostly) administer the server(s)?
The "40 percent" was an impression (some said things like "as many as half"; others had lesser numbers, but the general idea persists) from articles I've seen over the years. Here's 35% quoted in an article on windowsitpro.com, where I was referred in the context of a survey of botnet... er.... "participants".
Obviously, you "consider the source", and any single AV provider will be tempted to pad the numbers for greatest FUD, while underplaying false positives, but over the years the trend has been consistent. Really all they are saying is that a lot of exploits are permitted because of human laxity, bypassing in-place software protections.
-----Original Message-----
From: Dan Goldstein
Sent: April-30-13 12:24 PM
To: techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com
Subject: RE: Best explanation why NOT to run as administrator/root
I've certainly worked in environments in which it was accepted to log in as Administrator for everyday, ongoing computer use.
Just out of curiosity, where's the 40 percent figure come from? Quite a surprise!
-----Original Message-----
Who can recommend the best and most persuasively presented summary of why one should NOT log in as Administrator (or root) for every-day, ongoing computer use? To me, it's been a given for as long as I've been using networked computers. To my cow-orker, apparently not-so-much.
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