Screen Locking Problems

[David Curry]

Ryan McDougall wrote:

>Hi All,
>
>I'm sorry about this but I have looked for some things on this but
>can't seem to find a solution or an exact problem.
>
>We have FC2 on a Dell machine but the user likes to lock the screen
>using the xscreensaver option on the redhat menu. Ok this works most
>of the time BUT every once in a while he will come in the next
>morning, after having locked the screen the night before, and the
>screen will be unlocked and open. Has anyone else had this issue or
>does anyone know how to go about fixing it?
>
>Also we tried to use xlockmore from the DAG wiers repository and the
>install seemed to work but the user just emailed me and stated that
>xlock wouldn't accept his password. And after he hit the enter key
>several times it just let him in anyway. So if we could find a
>solution to either of those that would be AWESOME.
>
>Thanks all,
>Ryan
>
>  
>
Screensaver Help suggests two ways that someone can overcome Screensaver 
Lock.  Ctl-Alt-Backspace will kill the X session and throw the machine 
back to init level 3.  If the user's username and password are known to 
someone else, that someone else could easily kill the X session and log 
back in to X.org as the party who set the screenlock.  In addition, 
Screensaver -> Help - > Frequently Asked questions -> #22 points out 
that if the user is logged into a non-X console session, Ctl-Alt-F1 on 
the keyboard will switch the screen to that non-X console.

I haven't really explored either one of the things suggested by the faq, 
but it seems to me that screen lock has real weaknesses as an overnight 
security measure.