HOw I can Know who Access my file!!

geoquest · #1 (**permalink**) 06-10-2002

Hi there

I just want to know what is the best way to know who access my file and when?

I want also to know if it's possiple to hide or restrict access to file or directory even from the root ' I THINK MUCH BETTER TO CHANGE THE NAME THEN

"!!!

thanks in advance

Abdulkarim

Perderabo · #2 (**permalink**) 06-10-2002

Some versions of unix have features that would allow root to know who accesed a file and when. But ordinary users cannot access them. Also the root user can access any file. If, for some odd reason (like nfs), root can't access a file, root can simply become another user.

The only way to protect your files from your system administrator is to get your own computer.

Encrypting your files may be a partial answer, but they will need to be in plaintext as you use them and root can view them while they are.

Kelam_Magnus · #3 (**permalink**) 06-19-2002

Its kind of cheesy, but you can use .filename or put spaces in the filename or leading spaces to make hard on those who don't know how to handle that. Like a leading space in a filename that will stop most people.

touch " filename"
touch ". filename"

ls filename won't work. You must do ls " filename" or ls ". filename" to ls the file.

Same with vi. If they try to vi . filename, vi will try to open the directory as a file and a file called "filename". 2 files!

ONE CAVEAT HERE...

However, in my environment. I as root have cron jobs that search for and report an files with weird filenames.

So you can't stop root from finding or accessing them. Maybe these tactics will stop some from looking at your file. Although, it kind of like locking your car doors with the window rolled down!

Try it and report back.

auswipe · #4 (**permalink**) 06-19-2002

You could also write a shell script using lsof and grep out by the individual filename and append the grep output if found to another textfile. Although, I have to admit that it is not terribly effective.

Code:

#!/bin/sh

while true
  do
    sleep 1
    lsof | grep -i "MySpecialFile" >> paranoia.txt
done

Resulted in this output:

Code:

vi        3703    auswipe    3rW VREG 116,131078        159 1411444 /usr/home/auswipe/paranoid/MySpecialFile
vi        3703    auswipe    3rW VREG 116,131078        159 1411444 /usr/home/auswipe/paranoid/MySpecialFile
vi        3703    auswipe    3rW VREG 116,131078        159 1411444 /usr/home/auswipe/paranoid/MySpecialFile
vi        3703    auswipe    3rW VREG 116,131078        159 1411444 /usr/home/auswipe/paranoid/MySpecialFile
vi        3703    auswipe    3rW VREG 116,131078        159 1411444 /usr/home/auswipe/paranoid/MySpecialFile
vi        3703    auswipe    3rW VREG 116,131078        159 1411444 /usr/home/auswipe/paranoid/MySpecialFile
vi        3703    auswipe    3rW VREG 116,131078        159 1411444 /usr/home/auswipe/paranoid/MySpecialFile
vi        3703    auswipe    3rW VREG 116,131078        159 1411444 /usr/home/auswipe/paranoid/MySpecialFile
vi        3703    auswipe    3rW VREG 116,131078        159 1411444 /usr/home/auswipe/paranoid/MySpecialFile
vi        3703    auswipe    3rW VREG 116,131078        159 1411444 /usr/home/auswipe/paranoid/MySpecialFile
vi        3703    auswipe    3rW VREG 116,131078        159 1411444 /usr/home/auswipe/paranoid/MySpecialFile
vi        3703    auswipe    3rW VREG 116,131078        159 1411444 /usr/home/auswipe/paranoid/MySpecialFile
vi        3703    auswipe    3rW VREG 116,131078        159 1411444 /usr/home/auswipe/paranoid/MySpecialFile
vi        3703    auswipe    3rW VREG 116,131078        159 1411444 /usr/home/auswipe/paranoid/MySpecialFile
vi        3703    auswipe    3rW VREG 116,131078        159 1411444 /usr/home/auswipe/paranoid/MySpecialFile
vi        3703    auswipe    3rW VREG 116,131078        159 1411444 /usr/home/auswipe/paranoid/MySpecialFile

The cheezy little script wasn't able to pickup that elvis had opened the file (copied to temp file for manipulation) and because the file was so small, lsof with a one second interval wasn't able to catch the file being copied.

There is bound to be a better solution for this type problem. I would suggest Google for searching.

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