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Open Firmware and Phoning Home
Authored by: BjarneDM on Dec 12, '04 01:54:05PM

You don't want to be too restrictive in setting up Open Firmware if you want you computer to phone home, because you do want the thief to be able to use the computer as it is - otherwise your computer obviously won't be able to phone home.

At the very least the thief has to be able to log into an account and use it to browse for a period.

You also want to discourage the thief from re-formatting the HD by making it interestingly enough to keep the computer in an un-altered state.

Thus, using Open Firmware in any way might very possibly defeat the purpose of your phone home script.

How do we then protect the - private and confidential - information on the HD? One way is setting the accounts up in this way:
1) Enable root account in order to get the 'Other' possibility in the login window with account names as icons
2) Have at least three accounts: a) administrator 2) guest *without* password 3) user
3) Use Netinfo Manager to change the numerical user and group numbers to something in the 400-range. This'll make the user account invisble in the login window, but you'll still be able to log in using the 'Other' choice. Of course you'll also have to use Terminal to change the owner and group numbers to the new settings on the user account. The user'll also be invisible in the normal accounts pref. pane
3) Use Netinfo Manager to change the home folder for the user to a 'hidden' folder (one starting with '.')
4) Switch on FileVault for user



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Open Firmware and Phoning Home
Authored by: zs on Dec 13, '04 08:08:42PM
3) Use Netinfo Manager to change the home folder for the user to a 'hidden' folder (one starting with '.')
Careful with that. Nothing serious, but some applications won't open if there is any funny business in the path. Ultralingua comes to mind - I was using an omega (opt-z on US keyboards) to sort the folder it was in to the bottom. Not a problem if you don't try stuff out from your home directory, but it can be a frustration

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zs

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