🚀 go-pugleaf

In article <PCG.91Jun14182440@aberdb.aber.ac.uk> pcg@aber.ac.uk (Piercarlo Grandi) writes:
>
>No. The point is: what the student did was not improper. There was a
>file readable to all. He took a copy of it, and gave it to somebody
>else. Had he had done so with /etc/motd, would that have been a breach
>of security? Clearly not. So this guy was suspended for having done
>something that was thoroughly harmless.
>It's not always true, but the shrillest screams about "hackers" often
>come from the sysadmins that know they are inadequate.
>--

Yes, it's not true. I suspect that the screams come from sysadmins who 
were once "hackers" themselves. A simple extension of the "it takes one
to know one" maxim, frankly, I would think that while it is true that
/etc/passwd is world readable, there really isn't any reason why someone
should pass copies of it around. If there was a legitimate reason,
certainly a note to the sysadmin telling him why it was being copied
would clear the air, eh? :-)

Once again, sites need to DEFINE their policy and EDUCATE their user
community and if the users AGREE to abide by that policy, we have no
right to denigrate a particular site's handling of a policy violation.
Sysadmins need to formulate a DRAFT policy and obtain the support of
their administration (pres., vice-pres., dean, etc.) to enforce it.

	-Randy Marchany
	VA Tech Computing Center
	Blacksburg, VA 24060

INTERNET: marchany@vtserf.cc.vt.edu
"my opinions are my own"