Operating Systems/Linux/Ubuntu/Ubuntu 16.04 LTS/User Account Management

User Account Management (Ubuntu 16.04 LTS)

What Are We Doing?

User account management is about ensuring that our users and their permissions are appropriate. Your virtual machine will have a README file located on the desktop when you first boot it up. This README will specify which users should exist on the system and which permissions those users should have. You will need to perform the following audits on the users of the system:

1. Verify that all users in the README exist on the system. If you see a user noted in the README that does not exist on the system, they will need to be added.
2. Verify that no users exist on the system who are not in the README. If there are users on the system who are not in the README, they should be removed.
3. Verify that all users who are listed as Administrators have Administrator privileges. If there are users on the system who should have Administrator privileges, but do not, they should have their permissions modified to add it.
4. Verify that no users who are not listed as Administrators have Administrator privileges. If there are users on the system who have Administrator privileges, but are not supposed to, they should have their permissions modified to remove it.

Audit #1: Find and Add Missing Users

Graphical User Interface (GUI):

1. Click on the "System Settings" icon (The gear and wrench icon) from the menu on the left.
2. Double click on "User Accounts".
3. Click on the "Unlock" button in the top right corner if it is locked and enter the current user's password to authenticate.
4. Go through each of the users in the README file and verify that they are in the list of accounts on the left.
5. If you notice a user in the README that is not listed, click the "+" icon underneath the list of users.
6. Select the appropriate Account Type of "Standard" or "Administrator".
7. Ensure that the username matches what is listed in the README.
8. Click "Add"

Command Line Interface (CLI):

1. Click on the "Search your computer" icon (The Ubuntu logo) from the menu on the left.
2. Search for the "Terminal" application and click on it when it appears.
3. Run the command sudo bash and enter the password for your user account when prompted.
4. Go through each of the users in the README file and verify that they exist on the system:
   • Run the command awk -F: '{ print $1 }' /etc/passwd to get the list of all users on the system.
   • Run the command awk -F: '{ print $1 }' /etc/passwd | grep <username> to see if a specific username exists on the system.
5. If you notice a user in the README that is not listed, use the appropriate command to add the new user:
   • Account Type: Standard: useradd <username>
   • Account Type: Administrator: useradd <username> -G sudo