[CS-FSLUG] Are ssh shared keys in the wild?

[Tim Young]

In the general sense, it is not good to disable the root password.  
Some distros require the root pw before you can boot into single-user 
mode.  Also, if you boot up and fsck fails, it asks for the root 
password before you can drop back into fsck-mode.  A savvy techie can 
get around those through a number of different approaches, but you 
need to know what you are getting into.

If a generic someone were to simply ask me if they should disable the 
root password, I would say "it is usually not a good idea."  If they 
told me they wanted to disable it, we would need get into a 
discussion about what distro they were using, how would they deal 
with it if the box would not boot, etc.  If they could answer enough 
information, then it is fine.

Does that answer your question?

     - Tim Young

On 5/30/2012 8:19 PM, Josiah Ritchie wrote:
> Why do you say it is a bad idea to disable the root password?