Password Protecting Mail

[Cougarcat]

Hi guys,

so I have reason to believe that Family member A's mail is being read by Family Member B. Family member A has Gmail set up in Mail, but does not believe that B has A's admin or Gmail passwords. B does, however, have root access to the computer. Can you think of how B is reading A's mail, and, if so, how to prevent it? Can't remove B's root access. Thanks.

BTW, B created A's gmail account to begin with, but A said that the password was subsequently changed. Can you think of a way B might have set up the account to gain access??

Thanks for your help. A bizarre question, I know.

 

[creon]

Secret Question.

Answer it and the password will be mailed to a secondary account.

 

[Cougarcat]

Secret Question.

Answer it and the password will be mailed to a secondary account.

Thought of that, but it resets the password.

Anyways, I think I figured out what happened. B fast-user switched. A's Mail got checked in the background. A freaked out when seeing that the last activity for the account displayed a time when A knew they were not on. Plausible, yes?

A has a justification for freaking out, B has admitted to spying in the past.

 

[angelwatt]

Maybe A and B should get separate machines. Or let C be the admin. If B truly has "root" access (which is likely only admin) then they would indeed easily be able to see A's emails.

 

[aristobrat]

A freaked out when seeing that the last activity for the account displayed a time when A knew they were not on. Plausible, yes?

That scenario definitely sounds plausible. Have A sign out when done with the computer and see if the problem persists?

 

[Cougarcat]

Maybe A and B should get separate machines. Or let C be the admin. If B truly has "root" access (which is likely only admin) then they would indeed easily be able to see A's emails.

No, B has root access. It's B's machine. Both of their regular accounts are admin.

How would being root enable B to look at A's emails, and is there any way to prevent this?

Edit: good idea, I'll pass that along. Thanks.

 

[aristobrat]

How would being root enable B to look at A's emails, and is there any way to prevent this?

I think that using the FileVault feature to encrypt A's entire home folder should prevent B from being able to use Finder and go poking thru A's files (including the folders that have A's mail in them).

 

[angelwatt]

How would being root enable B to look at A's emails, and is there any way to prevent this?

Root has access to all files on the machine. Though, as suggested FileVault will protect against that. I've never come across a situation where someone really needed root access.