Once you have access to the raw partition update the

Once you have access to the raw partition, update the bootblocks
using the installboot utility. The process depends on the NetBSD
version you are using.
If you are running 2.0 or higher, use the command shown next. Replace
the bootxx_ffsv1 file with the one that matches your root filesystem
type; failure to do so will render your system unbootable.
# /usr/sbin/installboot -o console=com0 /dev/rwd0a
/usr/mdec/bootxx_ffsv1
If you are running 1.6, use the following command instead:
# /usr/mdec/installboot /usr/mdec/biosboot_com0.sym

< Day Day Up >
< Day Day Up >

Hack 28 Remove the Terminal Login
Banner
Give users the information you want them to receive when they log in.
The default login process on a FreeBSD system produces a fair bit of
information. The terminal message before the login prompt clearly
indicates that the machine is a FreeBSD system. After logging in, a user
will receive a copyright message and a Message of the Day (or motd),
both of which contain many references to FreeBSD.
This may or may not be a good thing, depending upon the security
requirements of your network. Your organization may also require you
to provide legal information regarding network access or perhaps a
banner touting the benefits of your corporation. Fortunately, a few
simple hacks are all that stand between the defaults and your network's
particular requirements.
3.6.1 Changing the Copyright Display
Let's start with the copyright information. That's this part of the default
login process:
Copyright (c) 1992-2003 The FreeBSD Project.
Copyright (c) 1979, 1980, 1983, 1986, 1988, 1989,
1991, 1992, 1993, 1994
The Regents of the University of California. All
rights reserved.
To prevent users from seeing this information, simply:
# touch /etc/COPYRIGHT
3.6.2 Changing the Message of the Day
Technically, you could add your own information to /etc/COPYRIGHT
instead of leaving it as an empty file. However, it is common practice to
put your information in /etc/motd instead. The default /etc/motd
contains very useful information to the new user, but it does get rather
old after a few hundred logins.
You can edit /etc/motd to say whatever suits your purposes—anything
from your favorite sci-fi excerpt to all the nasty things that will happen
to someone if they continue to try to log into your system. Here's a very

< Day Day Up >
< Day Day Up >

Hack 29 Protecting Passwords With
Blowfish Hashes
Take these simple steps to thwart password crackers.
All good administrators know that passwords can be a weak link in the
security chain. A malicious and determined user armed with a
password cracker could conceivably guess enough of your network's
passwords to access unauthorized resources.
3.7.1 Protecting System Passwords in General
Fortunately, you can make a password cracker's life very difficult in
several ways. First, educate your users to choose complex,
hard-to-guess passwords that are meaningful enough for them to
remember. This will thwart dictionary password crackers [Hack #30] ,
which use lists of dictionary and easy-to-guess words.