How to recover root password

[Bill Davidsen]

Aaron Konstam wrote:
> On Sun, 2008-08-03 at 22:30 -0400, Bill Davidsen wrote:
>> Ricky wrote:
>>> Hi,
>>>
>>> I had a root passwd which was so secure that even i cannot remember
>> it 
>>> now, lol!
>>>
>>> Can Someone help as to how i can recover it!!!!???
>>>
>>>
>>> Any suggestions???
>>>
>> If the owner of the system was even slightly security conscious there
>> is 
>> not only a root password, but a grub password, a boot sequence which 
>> only includes the disk, and a BIOS password so the boot sequence
>> can't 
>> be changed.
>>
>> If the system is secure you also need the passwords for each
>> encrypted 
>> filesystem.
>>
>> These are good steps to follow, particularly with a laptop, even if
>> you 
>> think you never answered any questions, keep no secure information,
>> etc.
> Except to some of us you are being paranoid. But I admit it depends on
> the environment you work in.
> 
Cautious. None of these things imposes a performance impact on runtime, 
except a tiny one for the disk encryption to be picky. I try to care for 
the data I have as if I might have to explain to a security agent why I 
didn't.

> An OT story about this. I was in the roo0m when a SUN representative
> told some members of the AF Security Command that Java was arriving that
> could download software to your machine through the web. They nearly had
> a heart attack. These are people who run computers in copper cages to
> prevent data transmission through the air.. That is a security feature
> you did not mention.

I have had DOD and DOE clearance and worked in TEMPEST secure rooms, but 
I agree that sometimes people need a good paranoid. Someone who wakes up 
at 2am with one more item for the list kept for the time management 
slips up and asks "what could possibly go wrong?"

I have quit jobs because management would not sign off in writing when 
they declined best practice, and been reassigned for refusing to follow 
orders without a written sign off. I can find another job, I can't find 
another reputation.


-- 
Bill Davidsen <davidsen at tmr.com>
   "We have more to fear from the bungling of the incompetent than from
the machinations of the wicked."  - from Slashdot