[CentOS] Another Fedora decision

[Valeri Galtsev]

On Tue, February 3, 2015 12:08 pm, Les Mikesell wrote:
> On Tue, Feb 3, 2015 at 11:48 AM, Valeri Galtsev
> <galtsev at kicp.uchicago.edu> wrote:
>>
>>> I think the intent is: "Don't use a password likely to be included in
>>> the list that an attacker would try". Of course if services would
>>> rate-limit the failures
>>
>> Which sysadmins do for ages when they configure their machines. And I
>> don't think any system will ever come from system vendor fully prepared
>> to
>> serve anything necessary, and tightened to best requirements (which
>> depend
>> on box designation anyway).
>
> Really?  Are vendors not capable of shipping something with good
> default settings?   It seems like getting a new car and having to
> install a different engine yourself because the factory couldn't
> figure out how to do it.
>
>> So, system vendors can do better, but there
>> always will be need for you to do your sysadmin's part.
>
> If that were really true, then you also wouldn't be able to follow
> anyone else's advice about how to do it. That is, if your system
> really needs to be so different that it couldn't have been shipped
> with the configuration you need, then a book couldn't tell you that
> either.
>
>> Sounds almost like
>> job security. As one of my friends says: all systems suck, and thanks to
>> that got our jobs ;-)
>
> But wouldn't you rather be doing something new/different instead of
> just fixing things that should have been done right in the first
> place?
>

Sounds so I almost have to feel shame for securing my boxes no matter what
job vendor did ;-)

Just a simple example: I have at least 3 classes of boxes configured
ultimately different and having very different level of
security/fortification. Do you seriously suggest that system vendor will
ship all three level of security configurations? Do you seriously think
that needing quite high level of security for some box I will not go over
all settings influencing it myself? Will you not? We are not Windows
admins, we rely on what we configure or check ourselves. And we do take
security seriously, so, we do go over everything whether the system vendor
does or does not claim they have done that part already (and and claim
they did it better than I can do it). If you prefer to delegate what you
are responsible for (security of your box) totally to someone else (even
as good guys as system vendor is), then I don't know what to tell you.
Yet, I'm sure, majority Unix sysadmins will still do what I do: go over
everything themselves. No matter what someone says.

Valeri

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Valeri Galtsev
Sr System Administrator
Department of Astronomy and Astrophysics
Kavli Institute for Cosmological Physics
University of Chicago
Phone: 773-702-4247
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