Apr
Enhance boot-time security with GRUB passwords
I always preferred GRUB over LILO, ever since I heard about it, that is, because of the security feature that GRUB has to offer. The ability to password protect each entry is a nice feature no doubt.
So, I wrote this article to help some newbies figure out how GRUB allows for MD5 encrypted passwords to be set against the entries in your GRUB menu.
While LILO also allows password protecting entries, it only offers text passwords that can be easily read by anyone by browsing through the lilo.conf file. It’s not so easy with GRUB, thanks to MD5 encryption.
People have criticised the article and this technique though. They believe that this is useful only when there is any physical threat to the machine. And then they say there are other ways to boot into a machine like using a live cd.
What I don’t understand is this: why do people, when anybody talks about security, always think of implementing it in a corporate environment. They always have to think about security only with regards to their office terminal. As if their personal computers are protected by a lining of kryptonite to keep even superman away from doing any harm.
For me, this is a handy tool to keep away pestering cousins and friends who really adore messing up my text files, be it drafts for my articles or my assignments. A simple solution to keep the pests away. And it works because the pests don’t know how to use a live cd or where to get one for that matter.
Cheers!
