hack concerns

[Tony Gettig <tgettig@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Hi folks,

I realize that any OS has the potential for having security holes. Would
anyone care to comment on the risk of the tools on this link? How afraid
should I be of people who have them (or write them!)? What can/should I do
to protect my Linux systems from this stuff? Is there any logical reason I
would want to use these, i.e. root password is forgotten? Should I be
concerned when I logon to my ISP with Linux? 

http://www.nmrc.org/files/unix/index.html

I'm not trying to encourage the download and use of this stuff, as the
website is out there for anyone to stumble across (or be pointed to it for
a specific reason, as I was. Looking for a util in case the ADMIN password
is forgotten on a NW4.x server.) If you go back to just nmrc.org, there are
hacks for other OS's as well.

Thanks for any comments. I really enjoy reading this mailing list and have
learned a LOT about Linux from it and conversations with KLUG members at
the few meetings I've been able to attend. I plan to attend much more as we
reach the turn of the year. I've been able to convert my home system to
primarily run RH5.1 (I can optionally boot to Win95 for a certain app and a
couple of games), and I must say it is great! KDE is very slick and I'm
looking forward to Bruce's presentation on it. Bye for now!

Tony Gettig
tgettig@net-link.net
http://www.net-link.net/~tgettig