RE: Best explanation why NOT to run as administrator/root

Subject: RE: Best explanation why NOT to run as administrator/root
From: "McLauchlan, Kevin" <Kevin -dot- McLauchlan -at- safenet-inc -dot- com>
To: Dan Goldstein <DGoldstein -at- cytomedix -dot- com>, "techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com" <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com>
Date: Wed, 1 May 2013 13:57:19 -0400

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.

[snip]
The information contained in this electronic mail transmission
may be privileged and confidential, and therefore, protected
from disclosure. If you have received this communication in
error, please notify us immediately by replying to this
message and deleting it from your computer without copying
or disclosing it.


^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
>From our sponsor Doc-to-Help: Want to see a Doc-To-Help web-based Help sample with DISQUS for user commenting?

Learn more: http://bit.ly/13xpg5n

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

You are currently subscribed to TECHWR-L as archive -at- web -dot- techwr-l -dot- com -dot-

To unsubscribe send a blank email to
techwr-l-leave -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com


Send administrative questions to admin -at- techwr-l -dot- com -dot- Visit
http://www.techwhirl.com/email-discussion-groups/ for more resources and info.

Looking for articles on Technical Communications? Head over to our online magazine at http://techwhirl.com

Looking for the archived Techwr-l email discussions? Search our public email archives @ http://techwr-l.com/archives


Follow-Ups:

Previous by Author: RE: Best explanation why NOT to run as administrator/root
Next by Author: RE: Microsoft Weighs-In (Adobe shifts to subscriptions for software package)
Previous by Thread: RE: Best explanation why NOT to run as administrator/root
Next by Thread: RE: Best explanation why NOT to run as administrator/root


What this post helpful? Share it with friends and colleagues:


Sponsored Ads