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authorDrew DeVault <sir@cmpwn.com>2020-07-24 10:48:16 -0400
committerDrew DeVault <sir@cmpwn.com>2020-07-24 10:48:16 -0400
commit5217ac11f6b317f3c363fb96f405bea04d46787d (patch)
treeda46062a9a863993987b4f94bd2a584c400c81c5 /ops
parent1c300789da4e0a359fc024003ac351e6a9e1e893 (diff)
downloadsr.ht-docs-5217ac11f6b317f3c363fb96f405bea04d46787d.tar.gz
Add new sysadmin lecture
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Additional resources:
+- [New sysadmin lecture](/ops/new-sysadmin.md)
- [Backups & redundancy](/ops/backups.md)
- [Emergency planning](/ops/emergency-planning.md)
- [High availability](/ops/availability.md)
diff --git a/ops/new-sysadmin.md b/ops/new-sysadmin.md
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+You're a production sysadmin now. That comes with certain responsibilities.
+
+In short:
+
+1. Respect the user's privacy, and look at only what you must.
+2. Think before you type.
+3. With great power comes great responsibility.
+
+Assorted tips:
+
+- Practice your changes on localhost first.
+- Ask for help if you need it.
+- Always run your SQL queries in a transaction.
+- `SELECT things, you, want FROM x;` is generally better than `SELECT * FROM x;`
+ when considering the user's privacy.
+- Share information on a need-to-know basis, both with people and with
+ computers.
+- Avoid doing things that cannot be undone.
+
+## Spear Phishing
+
+Because you now have access to production systems, you may be a target for spear
+phishing. A bad actor may target you directly in a social engineering attack in
+an attempt to get you to leverage your access to mistakenly compromise the
+system. For example, someone may impersonate another admin and ask you to add an
+SSH key to a server. You need to be aware of this risk.
+
+If you receive a request to leverage your access for any reason, double check
+the veracity of the request. Is the person on IRC identified with NickServ for
+the correct account? Is the email they sent DKIM signed and verified from the
+right sender? If in doubt, ask for a secondary form of authentication, such as a
+PGP challenge.
+
+This also applies to normal requests from users - don't let someone impersonate
+another user in an attempt to gain access to or manipulate their account. Be
+especially careful with requests from users with 2FA enabled.