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Re: OT: what BIOS options are accessible (r/w) from the OS?



Rob Weir wrote:
> 
> Why do you want to disable it?  To prevent people accessing it?
Well, initially, this was the idea (of course, besides doing the usual
iptables etc. stuff).

> I'm fairly sure that the kernel ignores what the BIOS thinks about disk
> drives, i.e. disabling it in the BIOS will not affect your system at
> all, it'll still show up...
...and usable though.

>>Btw.: what BIOS options can an OS read/set in general?
> 
> Give enough knowledge, root on your machine can set/read any option in
> your BIOS.
To this extend, this is quite new to me. In my "Windows days" i first
heard of such things but was not aware that an OS can gain such
influence on the BIOS / bypass it.

> keep down the number of things running as root.  Just unmount the disk
> when you're not using it, and no one without root will be able to touch
> it.  Of course, if someone gets root, they can do anything to your
> machine, up to and including mounting drives, erasing files, installing
... yes, that was my first idea, but well - root. Security is always a
compromise. I want to care ongoing about security but it shall not eat
all my time (no lives depend on my data).
But maybe i am going to install a simple power switch in the HDDs
power cable... this shall render any attacker harmless. Physical
detachment is the best way (just like with Computer M5 in Star Trek
Classic :-) ) of protection.
> 
> -rob
Thank you very much for your help and information!

-- 
greetings,

Timo
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