"James K. Lowden" <jklowden@schemamania.org> writes:
> Isaac Wagner-Muns wrote:
>> I'm trying to set up a small shell account server for students at my  
>> school, and it seems to be quite a vast undertaking, mostly because  
>> of the security issues brought up by letting semi-anonymous people  
>> access my machine. 
>
> I'm no security expert, but I'll answer anyway because you'll be lucky to
> have a real expert answer.  
>
> It's a matter of trust and degree.  There was a thread here just the other
> day discussing what to do if someone you didn't know gained access to the
> machine i.e., reinstall from known good media.  If your students are
> *trying* to subvert the machine, you probably don't want to give them
> accounts in the first place.  

There are companies like Panix that have thousands of shell users,
some of whom certainly wish to subvert their hardware. They manage to
remain secure anyway, and they don't have to re-install their boxes
every week.

Perry