[HLUG] Guest account for Linux??

[John Hedges]

On Tue, Mar 21, 2006 at 12:43:37AM +0600, Emon wrote:
> Hi all
> 
> I am running Slackware10.2 with KDE desktop on a home PC. I was 
> wondering how to setup a guest account with limited permissions & stuffs 
> like that.
> 
> Do I have to create a new account with the login name 'guest' & no 
> password??
> 
> I thought there was a especial limited user (by default) called 'nobody' 
> & a especial limited group (by default) called 'nogroup'...... is there 
> any to use them as guest account?? if so how?? especially in KDE??
> 
> OR is there some other way do things??
> 
> Please let me know
> 
> Thanks
> Emon

Hi Emon

The nobody/nogroup user and password are generally used for programs
that require minimal permissions to run. This means that if they get
compromised the attacker will still only have nobody/group permissions
and so will have difficulty doing any damage. I wouldn't use these for a
guest account.

Any account you create will have very limited permissions and should be
relatively secure. There will always be weaknesses though, so if you
don't know your guest you should invetigate further security measures
such as chroot.

Cheers

John