TELECOM Digest OnLine - Sorted: Users Overlook XP's Non-Admin Security; Least Privilege

Users Overlook XP's Non-Admin Security; Least Privilege

Monty Solomon (monty@roscom.com)
Sun, 26 Jun 2005 12:58:53 -0400

By Ryan Naraine

Microsoft is sparing no expense to spread the Least-privileged User
Account security gospel ahead of next year's Longhorn launch, but a
little-known fact-especially among IT administrators and end users-is
that the technology is already available in the Windows operating
system.

The LUA principle, also known as non-admin or minimum rights, is
accepted within software security circles as a key to reducing damage
from malicious hacker attacks, but on Windows systems, although the
option is available, experts say end-user adoption remains
"frighteningly low."

http://www.eweek.com/article2/0,1759,1830637,00.asp

Least Privilege' Can Be the Best
By David Coursey

Opinion: Forcing administrator privileges to be set as the default
for all accounts leaves users exposed to malware.

Want fewer security hassles? Demote yourself!

Want to do something right now that can help protect you from malware?
Then stop being an administrator. No, I am not suggesting a career
change, though I suppose that would have much the same effect.
Rather, I hope you'll consider using your desktop's administrator
account only when absolutely necessary and creating a user account for
general computing.

Why am I making this suggestion? Because too many people do all their
computing as administrators -- even those whose user name is something
besides "Administrator."

http://www.eweek.com/article2/0,1759,1772361,00.asp

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