Disable ctrl-alt-b?

[Steffen Grunewald]

On Fri, Aug 13, 2004 at 03:07:15PM +0200, Per Foreby wrote:
> Even if I enable all possible security in the BIOS setup, it is still
> possible to press ctrl-alt-b to change the MBA settings. I'm not sure if
> this is a security problem, but at least the students will be able to
> change the settings and leave the computer unbootable from the network.
> 
> Does anyone know if it is possible to prevent the users from changing the
> MBA settings?

Not really: there's some security by obscurity - you can hide the
message...

> If not, my backup solution is to only allow booting from C:, and password
> protect all lilo/grub alternativs but local boot. This requires physical
> access to the computers if I want to reinstall, but is still much better
> than the bios solution (halt, enter bios, change boot order, install from
> network, halt, enter bios, change boot order again, boot from disk).

What's the exact problem? In general you'd be happy to boot locally,
with or without a PXE response. If you want to do an install and don't
succeed, then something is wrong with the PXE (MBA) settings...

Steffen

-- 
Steffen Grunewald * * * Merlin cluster admin (http://pandora.aei.mpg.de)
Albert-Einstein-Institut (MPI Gravitationsphysik, http://www.aei.mpg.de)
       Science Park Golm, Am Mühlenberg 1, 14476 Potsdam, Germany
e-mail: steffen.grunewald(*)aei.mpg.de * +49-331-567-{fon:7233,fax:7298}