If you’re a Unix admin, it helps to know how password aging is managed and how you can determine when a password was last changed or force a change in the near future. The key to understanding how ...

Unix sysadmins sometimes use the command chage -d 0 to immediately expire a user’s password. While only one of a number of ways that you can use to disable accounts, it’s one that’s quick (it doesn’t ...

Unix is a multi-user operating system deep into the kernel level of its operations. Unix-like operating systems that are commonly used in the workplace include OS X and every variety of Linux, as well ...

Not long ago, I received an announcement about a new book on constructing good passwords. My first reaction was an incredulous “An entire book on PASSWORDS?”. I have written columns on passwords, good ...

If you can remember all of your passwords, they're not good passwords. I used to teach people how to create "good" passwords. Those passwords needed to be lengthy, hard to guess and easy to remember.

If you want an example of evolution in action, look at the GNU/Linux password system. Although it includes the basic UNIX password structure as a vestigial organ, natural selection in the form of ...

As one of the original versions of Unix, BSD is an ancient operating system. So it shouldn’t come as a surprise that it used what are, by today’s standards, strange, even ridiculous security. For one, ...

use winbind and pam_smb, it's part of the SAMBA packages. it assigns unix UID and GIDs from the users in your AD domain. you will need SAMBA beta3 in order to get good AD member support, if you use ...