[sf-lug] Laptop computer(s) and its/their so-called 'root' password(s)

[Bobbie Sellers]

On 9/26/19 8:19 AM, aaronco36 wrote:
> Bobbie Sellers <bliss-sf4ever at dslextreme.com> wrote at [1]:
>
>> Is the root password set?
>> If it is do you have it available to buyers?
>
> Is it possible that Bobbie S really meant _BIOS_ password(s) set 
> instead of _root_ password?

     As I had replied to Michael meaning to send to the list and now 
have corrected that problem.
     You of course have penetrated my am foggy-mindedness and since you 
had not seen my reply
nor had I recieved a copy I went to my Sent folder and corrected the 
address.

>
> Main reason for asking is that its absolutely not uncommon that 
> companies and individuals will lockdown their laptops in order that 
> other individuals won't just come along and boot from some unknown USB 
> stick or optical media to install another OS or to hack/change 
> settings in the current OS (live booting).

     Actually I blame the ITs who yank hard drives from their obsoleted 
machine without wiping out the BIOS password.
     It can be difficult to setup a machine set to do other things than 
boot from any connected bootable drive.
     The Dell E6420 machines have a very resilient BIOS/Firmware 
password and unless someone has that BIOS password
the settings cannot be altered.  This can be very inconvenient for the 
user of second hand machines.
>
> As written in step 3 of VOX's 'End User laptop: Lock it Down in 11 
> Steps'[2]:
>
> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ quoting ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
> Install a BIOS password and change device boot order to prevent the 
> system booting from anything but the hard drive. This makes it harder 
> for someone to boot from a CD that contains hacking tools designed to 
> get at your data. If you do ever need to boot from a CD simply 
> temporarily change the boot order and then change it back.
> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
>
> And security-minded public and learning institutions will more often 
> than not lockdown their publicly-accessible computers 
> (student-accessible lab computers) using similar "kiosk"-style BIOS 
> restrictions -- e.g., steps in "The lockdown" section of 'Creating a 
> kiosk with Linux and X11: 2011 edition'[3] intended more for Linux 
> sysadmins.
>
> -A
>
>
> ==============================================
> References
> ==============================================
> [1]http://linuxmafia.com/pipermail/sf-lug/2019q3/014382.html
> [2]https://vox.veritas.com/t5/Articles/End-User-Laptop-Lock-it-Down-in-11-Steps/ta-p/808614 
>
> [3]https://alandmoore.com/blog/2011/11/05/creating-a-kiosk-with-linux-and-x11-2011-edition/ 
> ==============================================
>
> aaronco36 at sdf.org
> -----------------
>
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