10.1 Security Overview
10.1.2 The superuser account
UNIX provides a special user account called root that has total access to the system. All permissions placed on files and directories can be overridden by the root user. This account's user is also called the superuser. The superuser account is used to run system administration commands and to edit critical system files such as the password file. The individual(s) with root access is often referred to as the System Administrator.