Re: EFS is a joke!
From: Alun Jones (alun@texis.com)Date: 01/26/02
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From: alun@texis.com (Alun Jones) Date: Sat, 26 Jan 2002 19:57:06 GMT
In article <1106_1011999224@bowmore.utu.fi>, Markus Jansson
<jansson_markus@ziplip.com> wrote:
>I wondered about this issue. Then I argued about it. I claimed that EFS is
> nothing more than a joke that
>provides a little program level protection. I started gathering information
> about it but M$ hasnt published
>nothing more than bunch of marketing slogans. Then I found this on the NSA
> Windows2000 security
>guide. I was pretty shocked. It seems Microsoft does not understand even the
> very basics of
>cryptography and security...not that it would be something most of us dont
> already know. Anyway...
You seem to be missing a couple of basics of security yourself.
>Discussion: If as attacker has physical access to the computer and can boot the
> computer from a floppy
>disk, it is possible to use tools such as O&O BlueCon or other
>similar password editing tools to modify the administrator password and logon
> as the administrator. Once
>logged on as administrator the attacker can then read files
>encrypted by the administrator. As the administrator, the attacker can also
> change the password for local
>user accounts and access files encrypted by those users as well.
And this is why any Windows 2000/XP administrator worth his/her salt makes
sure to:
a) strictly limit physical access to the hardware
b) rename the built-in administrator account
c) create EFS recovery agents other than the built-in administrator, and
assign them instead of administrator as the default recover agent(s).
EFS isn't a solution to all security problems. It provides limited protection
only (for instance, it doesn't protect against someone blowing up your server,
in which case your data is lost). You seem to be expecting it to be a
panacea.
Alun.
~~~~
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