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EFF's Logfinder
clonebarkins writes "EFF has just released a new software tool called "logfinder" to help server admins find (and delete) unnecessary log files on their boxen. "By finding unwanted log files, logfinder informs system administrators when their servers are collecting personal data and gives them the opportunity to turn logging off if it isn't gathering information necessary for administering the system.""
A competent admin will know that his/her boxen are collecting personal data. An ethical admin will get rid of any unneeded data.
LK
"Hi. This is my friend, Jack Shit, and you don't know him." - Lord Kano
Is the point of this that law enforcement can't subpoena records that don't exist?
500GB of disk, 5TB of transfer, $5.95/mo
I would seriously hope that:
a) the sysadmins are competent enough to handle this themselves. I would think that a sysadmin would know how to use some sort of local file search.
b) the EFF understands that it's not always up to the sysadmins to determine the amount of time to keep logs that might be used against an individual.
I'm sorry, but this might just be the dumbest move yet they have made...
lots are crucial for many reasons:
1. Hacking attacks (how else do you track them, and prevent them)?
2. Abuse problems (spammers, credit card fraud)
3. aggregate statistics (what percentage of my customers are based in Europe?)
I can't see why someone would shoot themselves in the foot and use this.
Like log files are really intrusive anyway.
This is just EFF's way of reminding sysadmins to be vigilent about their log files, it's not meant to replace good administration habits.
Just two observations: (the second of which is actually relevant to this parent)
1. It took me around 3 minutes to find out that this thread applies to POSIX-like systems only (ie. won't work on this winXP). The fact should really have been mentionned in the summary. I only say this because recently, some summaries seem to have been "hastily" written.
2. I am myself wary of huge, hidden log files that either winXP itself or other programs create. As the only user and sysadmin on this system and keen to minimise disk wastage, I would want to prune all logs regularly. Trouble is, they aren't all *.log files. So, how do I find them, short of going through every single program and investigating any logs it might or might not create?
InnerWeb
Freud might say that Intelligent Design is religion's ID.
In an ideal world every system would be administered by a well trained and experienced system admin, or a trainee admin being mentored by one, who had plenty of time to investigate and maintain the machine. In practice most system admins are people in other roles (developers, DBAs, desktop support or even receptionists) who have been handed the task of managing half a dozen white box Wintel servers (with maybe a SCO or Linux box or even an aging Sun box in the mix) and probably a Netware server doing file and print, most were built and installed by someone one of the manager's knows or have been inherited third hand from another company. If they're lucky they get a training course where they'll learn a few of the GUI screens, more likely they'll be given a few dozen pages of handwritten notes (aka 'the manual') and told to go to the nearest Waterstones/Borders/Whatever and buy a book if they need more.
That was pretty much my first job. I had trained as a C programmer; then I found myself managing 70 desktops running various versions of Windows, a dozen or so White Box Intel based servers running Windows NT 3.51 and 4.0, a SCO OpenServer box, an Alpha running VMS, a 3 member VAX cluster running VMS and an RS6000 running AIX. All with no usable documentation or training. A little later they added in DBAing the Oracle databases and managing the network (a variety of devices from 3Com, Cisco and Bay), at the time I only knew a bit of SQL and wasn't really sure of the difference between a router and a switch. After spending a lot of money on books then a lot of time reading them (I didn't have web access at the time, when I did I started reading websites as well) I eventually learned what I needed to know.
This script is a separate issue. Inpractice I don't expect those sorts of admins to run it, they probably wouldn't know what to do with the information if they did. Where I think it would be useful is for the professional admin who suddenly inherits a bunch of machines (maybe they've moved companies or their company has merged with another). Put this script on them and run it for a few days then see what it turns up. No matter how wonderful and professional you are unless you built and installed a machine yourself and can guarantee that no-one else has ever had the root/admin password to a box you can't be 100% sure that there's not some process running somewhere that is quietly logging something somewhere. No-one who manages a non-trivial number of machines has time to check every machine to make sure that there are no new or unexpected services that have snuck in (and remember it's not something you could do once and then not again, you'd have to keep on doing it). That's why you need scripts that look for anything that could point to unexpected activity. Not just looking for anything that looks like a log on a box but also ports that shouldn't be open (I've lost count of the number of times I've found a box with port 25 open when I know I've disabled SMTP, only to find that someone has re-enabled it without telling me) or unexpected activity on a switch or firewall port. Not only do we have too many machines to manage but also users who delete files they shouldn't which then must be restored from backup, managers who constantly demand reports on system availabity stats and projects that we have to keep an eye on to make sure they don't run wild and break every standard we have.
Stephen
"Don't write down to your readers, the only people less intelligent than you can't read" - Sign on Newspaper Office Wall