On Sat, 2008-09-13 at 05:06 -0700, nate wrote:
William L. Maltby wrote:
HWADDR=xx:xx:xx:xx:xx:xx # I've masked out MAC address for this post
Out of curiosity why ? You are aware that someone knowing your MAC address outside your local network is fairly useless right?
Yes. I just do it out of habit so I don't forget something which could lead to exposure. Habit developed long ago.
I just find it funny how people tend to mask MAC/IP/host/domain names. If your system is not secure, and is on the internet, people on this list(and those scanning the archives etc) are the least of your worries.
Long, long ago, I had a block of IPs and registered domain. Worries about hacking were relatively new then, I was even more ignorant about this stuff than I am now, and my gateway/mail unit got hacked. I immediately split services, hardened the gateway and, in a continual process of "learning from my mistakes", decided that *always* masking some site-specific information would help reduce the chance that I would forget on some critical piece down the road. If nothing else, since I don't mask *all* site-specific data, it causes me to briefly think. Since "hoomons" are, indeed, creatures of habit, it is best to reinforce good habits, even to the point of overkill IMO.
I would rather do unnecessary work and be safer than be lazy and maybe get burned at the most inopportune time (seems to be the most common time for *everything* bad to happen).
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Since, as I've often stated, I'm really ignorant about a lot of stuff, I feel no regrets about taking a little more conservative approach to this sort of stuff.
nate
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