[parttimetechie]

I was once working on a computer at a remote location. I was logged in under a professor at the school. He put a file on his computer under the same login, and when I restarted the remote computer and brought up the desktop, the file was there. How did that happen? Were they using a domain system or what exactly allowed that to happen?

[Byteman]

It's possible to use a remote connection to repair a computer....it depends on the access you have when connected for what you can see and do (what is shared).

It's also possible for a hacker or malicious user to do a great deal of harm using remote access....

When you are connected remotely, you see the desktop as it would appear to the user, and you use your mouse as if the desktop was yours, etc.

I would think the teacher set things so you could share the file on the desktop.

There are free remote utilities you can set up and try at home:


Some are trial versions that expire or are limited


https://secure.logmein.com/home.asp?lang=en


http://www.bestfreewaredownload.com/...-wxkextjn.html


If the host PC is using Windows XP Professional: http://articles.techrepublic.com.com...1-6119547.html


There are other utilities which will no doubt get posted....

[parttimetechie]

Hey Byteman, thanks for the info

I do not believe it was remote desktop that was allowing this, rather I think it had something to do with the fact he and I were both logged in under the same username on the school network. Would the file appear because we were both on the same username and thus the settings should be accessed from anywhere?

[L8ians]

Hey parttimetechie

I didn't understand your issue clearly.. what i understood is - you logged into your professor login in a remote computer and your professor created a file under his own login which you are using at that time.
You told that you restarted the remote computer and brought up the desktop and what i didn't understand is whether you logged into your professors account or your own account after rebooting ??
If it is your professors account the file would be there as he created it under his login.
and if you have that file in your account thats not possible !!!!!!!!!!

If he has that file even if he login into any other computer probably he has configured for a roaming profile.
Roaming profile (Active directory) - which means if you save a data in the roaming profile directory, wherever you login in the some domain, you would be getting those saved files and personalized settings of your login.

Regards,
L8ians

[parttimetechie]

I wanst in a remote desktop connection, I just wasnt at his same computer. I was at a different location logged in under his account, he put the file on his account at his school, and i relogged into his account at my alternate site. Thats what im wondering how he did that

[zx10guy]

It's part of the domain setup where his user profile is also storing files kept on his desktop onto the domain controller. So when he logs onto a different computer, his profile gets pulled down which will also "download" files saved on his desktop.

As an aside and as a IT professional, I'm groaning with what I'm reading here. I bet if the school's IT department gets wind about what this professor is doing they would be beating him down with his keyboard and shoving his mouse into a dark place. What the professor is doing is violating established security principles and I bet is probably violating stated policy of the school's IT system. I know if something like this were to happen at any of the jobs I've held it is grounds for being immediately fired no matter what excuse he comes up with.

[parttimetechie]

Ya, im an IT pro as well and I was really surprised he gave me full access to everything. Although I see the necessity of it, I was really surprised he allowed this to happen.

[zx10guy]

He should really get his hand slapped hard. The way it works with most establishments is the IT group is given some sort of higher level access above a regular user...enough to be able to do their job or provide adequate user support. Administrative rights isn't really a proper blanket description of what sys admins and support staff have as their access level. Administrative rights can be broken down to various levels depending on the security structure of your domain.

The reason why what happened here is a big no no is that there is no way of knowing now whether he did something bad to the network/infrastructure if he is giving away both his username and password to anyone. He gave you his username and password which you may be his support staff. But you don't know if he's practiced this lax security by giving this information to other people. One of the biggest security exercises is to figure who did what. That's why audits/security logs are a big deal. Now when you look at logs tracing activity done by this professor, you can no longer be sure if he did this or someone else who has his information but is looking to do harm to the IT infrastructure with an account that can't be traced back to said person. Passwords are sacred and I have never heard of any sys admin asking a person what their password is to provide proper support.

[parttimetechie]

but security breaches aside, the basic principle is the fact we were both set up on a domain with the same login correct?

[zx10guy]

Well the way I see it. The computer you both were using are part of the school's Windows domain. He placed a file in an area while logged in where he knew it would be stored by user profile. He then had you log in with his user account and that's when you were able to see it as the contents of the user profile are downloaded when you log on.

[parttimetechie]

so I could do the same thing on my home network or another network?

[zx10guy]

Only if you have a domain set up, the computer you are logging in on is part of the domain, and you have a user account in the domain.

[L8ians]

As long as you are in same domain you can get it done..
Its the roaming profile enabled login account...


!! Bingo!!
cheers,
L8ian