Re: More security for screensavers

[Benoît Sibaud <benoit.sibaud@rd.francetelecom.com>]

Ted Cabeen wrote:
> Good call.  The default should probably be set to off.  A debconf questio=
> n of "low" priority would probably also be a good thing.

I opened the #128169 bug report (
http://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/bugreport.cgi?bug=128169 )
"For security reasons, xscreensaver shouldn't be allowed to grab desktop
images by default (which is currently the case).
Screensavers like Jigsaw or Spotlight can allow bad guys to see what
you're doing, even if you lock your screen.

Discussed on debian-security, thread beginning here:
http://lists.debian.org/debian-security/2002/debian-security-200201/msg00014.html

For now, the xscreensaver maintainer disagrees.
"I disagree. It is NOT a security issue, it has been discussed the last
3 times it was brought up, and it's easy enough to change if it bothers
you. Neither your bug or the discussion you pointed to adds anything to
the debate that's been carried on several times before."

-- 
Benoît Sibaud
R&D Engineer - France Telecom