[ale] Sunday 05-22-05 6PM RUN-AS-ROOT CHALLENGE

[Jim Popovitch]

On Wed, 2005-05-18 at 21:28 -0400, Geoffrey wrote:
>
> This is where your flaw lies.  There are a number of attacks that can be 
> made against a computer.  As root you have access to not only the file 
> system, but all the hardware as well.  You need to think very hard about 
> this 'CHALLENGE.'  It may be that when you lose this 'CHALLENGE' (and 
> you will), you may find that you will not be able to reboot this 
> machine, ever....

That is just bogus.  There is no modern day hardware that software can
destroy.  Video refresh rates, bios, hard-drives, flash, NICs, etc. are
all pretty resilient.  It's quite funny that people keep "talking" about
these mysterious hardware hacks yet no one can show evidence of one.
Makes one wonder if they are in a business that necessitates scaring
people.  Alarmists I say!  

-Jim P.