[tlug] VNC and security

[Dave M G <martin@example.com>]

TLUG,

Recently, I've been using VNC to collaborate on PHP coding. For those 
who might be unfamiliar with VNC (though I'm sure almost all of you 
are), VNC allows people to log into a machine over the internet and see 
the desktop and use the mouse as if they were in front of the machine 
themselves.

I always manually turn on the VNC server on my machine to allow the 
other person to see my desktop before each session. And, at the end of 
each session, I close the remote desktop access.

Over the holidays, I'm going to be away for a couple of weeks, and I was 
thinking I might be kind of cool to be able to log into my own machine 
from time to time.

This would mean leaving the remote desktop open, and setting it to be 
accessed by password.

My question is whether or not this is a security risk or not. Is VNC 
with password protection secure enough that I won't have to fear my 
computer being hacked in the two week period that I am leaving it up?

Thanks for any advice.

ï--
Dave M G
Ubuntu 6.06 LTS
Kernel 2.6.17.7
Pentium D Dual Core Processor
PHP 5, MySQL 5, Apache 2