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From: Victor R. Cardona (vcardon_at_siue.edu)
Date: Wed Jan 15 2003 - 14:52:57 CST

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    On Wed, Jan 15, 2003 at 08:47:50PM +0000, keith.anthony.robertsbigfoot.com wrote:
    > Surely it would be more difficult for any attacker to break into Linux
    > if they did not know the username for the root account?
    >
    > I just wondered if it was possible to make root logins MUCH more secure
    > with the following suggestions.
    >
    >
    > When a NEW installation of Linux is done, allow the root user to select
    > their -*OWN*- unique username for the root account in YaST, instead of the
    > default 'root' username.
    >
    > Disallow the use of username 'root' for ALL root superuser logins.
    >
    > When a superuser logs-in they provide their unique username that they choose
    > when installing Linux eg. under YaST.
    >
    > Each login program would need to be modified to reject the username of 'root'.

    Login programs should only use the username to lookup a uid. If that
    uid is 0 then the user is the super user. The name "root" is not
    important at all.

    Victor

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