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Re: [LUG] Security Thoughts

 

I'm with Brad here.

The valuable stuff (your data) is protected by the password.

The sudo is largely protecting stuff of low value you simply don't want modified 
without consent (e.g. A Malware barrier). Nothing root can access is more valuable 
than your data on a single user machine.

With a single user machine all you do with extra password for root is make it 
slightly harder for an attacker to persist silently, your data is already 
compromised.

That said I would consider encrypting the whole disk (assuming it has any valuable 
data, e.g. email credentials) and then (if I was keen) persuade the window manager 
to just log me in without a further password.

Then you have encryption password to log in, and user password for sudo operations.

Consider also a boot password. Depending on hardware you may be able to combine 
encryption and boot password, and keep the encryption key in hardware protected by 
the boot password.

Of course the deeper the hole you bury your data in the more important good backups 
become. You lose the key to an encrypted disk your data is toast. 


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