Quote:
Originally Posted by malekmustaq
--Run the browser ONLY as a $USER not as root |
Specifically, run as a user which
is not capable of becoming root ... which, unfortunately, is usually
not the case by default.
Your user should not be a member of the
wheel group, which is capable of becoming root by entering the command,
sudo su and specifying
his own(!) password.
This is the so-called
principle of least privilege, which leverages the fact that computers are very good at saying "No!" but really don't know when it's right to say "Yes." Your ordinary everyday user-id ... or, user-id
s ... should be compartmentalized from one another and have no
capability to gain elevated privileges of any sort.
Use multiple user-ids in the same way that companies use separate, lockable, offices and filing-cabinets within those offices for the various people who are doing various sensitive things. And for the same purpose. If you "wear different hats," create a user-id for each hat. Simply by making it "less than trivially easy, or possible," to poke one's nose where one's nose does not belong, you
vastly improve the security of your setup, because nearly all intrusions are simply crimes of blind opportunity. If the pizza-box cat burglar encounters a locked front door, he'll simply go on to the next house.
