[kennyland]

hi folks
A few days ago i noticed, in terminal, that my hostname has been changed. Before, it was [computeradress:~] shortname$. And now it is dummy:~ shortname$. How is this possible? I checked the /etc/hostconfig file, and the setting is hostname=-automatic- so i guess thats ok. And the prefpanel sharing hasnt been changed.
In the system.log i found this line -May 9 10:52:20 [computeradress] set-hostname[708]: setting hostname to dummy-
I never gave such an order. i'm getting paranoid here. can someone help me out here?

i'm running panter 10.3.3

[Kristoff]

If you don't specify a hostname, and you are on a network with DHCP and Dynamic DNS, it will set your hostname semi-arbitrarily (not really arbitrarily, but I don't have the time to explain the RFCs around those protocols.)

[kennyland]

thx for replying,
so its the DHCP - DNS stuff (my provider if i get this wright?) that sets my hostname. so i have nothing to worry about? because i read somewhere that the DHCP-DNS stuff can be spoofed, or something like that, by a hacker?

ha found the link
http://www.carrel.org/dhcp-vuln.html

[RevEvs]

Basically, unless you specifically set the hostname, you get what the DHCP server gives you. e.g. when i plug my laptop into a uni network im given "lap13" (or similar) as my hostname in place of the usual "Cuthbert".

revs

[kennyland]

oeps

[wadesworld]

Originally posted by kennyland:
thx for replying,
so its the DHCP - DNS stuff (my provider if i get this wright?) that sets my hostname. so i have nothing to worry about? because i read somewhere that the DHCP-DNS stuff can be spoofed, or something like that, by a hacker?

ha found the link
http://www.carrel.org/dhcp-vuln.html

You have nothing to worry about. The chances of someone purposely setting up a malacious DHCP server on your local subnet to gain access to your machine is well, not very high.

Don't waste your energy worrying.

Wade

[kennyland]

ok, thx, i'll try that