Re: How safe is a "Limited" XP account?

From: John Brock (jbrock_at_panix.com)
Date: 02/24/05

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    Date: Thu, 24 Feb 2005 16:39:57 +0000 (UTC)

    In article <m03bvmvqyv.fsf@ripco.com>, Todd H. <comphelp@toddh.net> wrote:

    >jbrock@panix.com (John Brock) writes:

    >> What bad things can happen to me while using a plain vanilla
    >> "Limited" Windows XP user account?

    >> In general I am interested in both likely and worst case
    >> scenarios. Any thoughts?

    >There are more secure OS's out there.
    >
    >What are your goals? What need motivates your questions?

    My motivation is very simple; I use a Limited account on my home
    XP system, and I want to understand how much extra security this
    buys me. I don't rely on it for security, and in fact I am quite
    paranoid about security -- I have a hardware firewall and anti-virus
    software, I have never used IE on this computer except to connect
    to microsoft.com for updates, and I read all my email via telnet.
    So far I seem to have avoided any viruses or spyware. I am well
    aware that there are more secure OS's, and I'm appalled at how
    poorly Windows is designed in terms of security. Still, you process
    words with the computer you've got, and I just want to understand
    the one I've got as well as possible.

    I think my question really breaks down into two parts:

    1) How well does the theoretical security provided by a Limited
    account hold up in practice? I.e., how hard is it in practice to
    "escalate privileges", and how long do bugs which allow this to
    happen go unfixed?

    2) How likely is it that a given piece of malware will be coded to
    try to escalate privileges if it finds itself running on a Limited
    user account, or even function effectively at all in this situation?
    My impression is that most Windows users spend most of their time
    in accounts with Administrator privileges, so maybe most virus
    writers wouldn't consider it worth their effort to write code that
    deals with Limited accounts. Or maybe not. I don't know, hence
    my question.

    I do notice that when I see lists of recommendations for securing
    Windows PCs Limited accounts are often not even mentioned, and I've
    wondered why that is. Maybe it's because some old or poorly designed
    software won't run properly, and because you can't install most
    software. Maybe it's assumed that the typical user can't be trusted
    to understand and use a Limited account. Or maybe it just doesn't
    add as much security as I think it does. Again, my question. 

    -- 
John Brock
jbrock@panix.com
  • Next message: ROBERT S AMP BA Drake: "Re: Avast or Zone Alarm using proxy server?"

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