Ubuntu security question

[punkybouy]

Tonight I tried the 9.04 64 bit live CD which worked well but much to my surprise it was able to access my current hard drive running 32 bit 8.04 LTS and read any file I wanted. What good does it do to have a "secure" operating system when anyone with a live cd can come along and boot with it and read files off the hard disk?
Am I missing something or would the only way to secure the hard disk be to encrypt the drive with the alternate CD?
Thanks for the help.

[marshmallow1304]

BIOS password.

[QIII]

Encrypt, BIOS password, HDD password, file privileges. Take your pick.

Physical access is the mother of all security risks. You had physical access.

[wojox]

Encrypt, BIOS password, HDD password, file privileges. Take your pick.

Physical access is the mother of all security risks. You had physical access.

+1 You will never be able to completely stop anyone with physical access to your box from breaking into it.

[Compintuit]

+1 You will never be able to completely stop anyone with physical access to your box from breaking into it.

Not quite true, but a good assumption. The problem is, even if you encrypt, all someone has to do is put a keylogger on the keyboard. Then they get your key, and you're encryption is useless.

So unless you're confident no one is looking over your shoulder, and your keyboard doesn't have a keylogger on in, physical access = no security.

[scrooge_74]

If I steel your box, forget about security.

I'll just wipe the HD clean and start a new :p

Or if I want your data take it out of it and hook it up to another PC.

What you really want is security over the networks and the internet which you get the moment you start using linux

[overdrank]

Moved to Recurring Discussions

[hoppipolla]

Tonight I tried the 9.04 64 bit live CD which worked well but much to my surprise it was able to access my current hard drive running 32 bit 8.04 LTS and read any file I wanted. What good does it do to have a "secure" operating system when anyone with a live cd can come along and boot with it and read files off the hard disk?
Am I missing something or would the only way to secure the hard disk be to encrypt the drive with the alternate CD?
Thanks for the help.

I know to be honest I LOVE this! I was really quite proud of myself when I finally sussed it ._. lol

Because I was like "Yes I can hack into almost any machine now as long as I'm sitting at it!" lol xD

Encrypted filesystem is your best bet if you want to stop it though. BIOS passwords work until someone opens the case and resets the CMOS, but of course that's a fairly big ordeal! :)

[punkybouy]

All good input! Thanks for the replies.

[punkybouy]

Jaunty's alternate cd has the option of just encrypting your personal/home folder which seems like a reasonable option. I tried encrypting the whole drive but the kernel would not install. That could have been a faulty CD so I downloaded another. Using the PC to write this. 64 bit is nice and stuff I thought would be difficult to install like Skype and Flash were a breeze.

[NCLI]

This should be merged with that other thread...