[Ramius]

Well, yes. Physical access to any machine is pretty much the same as complete access. Mostly.

[Southack]

"Well, yes. Physical access to any machine is pretty much the same as complete access. Mostly."

I don't see it, even with the "mostly" caveat tossed in.

How many people, given full access to an ATM or POS terminal, could debit the accounts of other bank customers?

You see, **security** is more than just protecting a machine's physical access. Good security will survive even with a machine physically compromised.

[HAL9000]

Physical access to any machine is pretty much the same as complete access. Mostly.

The next version of Mac OS X will have on-the-fly encryption/decryption of the user's home directory. With that system, mere physical access will not be sufficient for an unauthorized person to use your files.

[tortoise]

Physical access to any machine is pretty much the same as complete access. Mostly.

Only for the most poorly secured systems. Strong security such that access to the physical machine won't net you anything is pretty cheap these days, even if they have the ability to install rudimentary sniffers on the hardware. It is not even particularly inconvenient at that.