Should I keep the OEM's default account?

Since a few days I've a new laptop running Ubuntu Linux. During the installation I had to create my own user account. After rebooting, I saw, that the manufacture created a second user called oem (original equipment manufacturer) which has admin rights.

Is there any reason to keep the second account since I'm using only my own.

TL;DR Yes, delete the OEM account.

Before you delete the OEM account, check if you are in the sudo group

groups

Sample output:

% groups
a_user_name daemon adm cdrom sudo dip plugdev fuse lpadmin sambashare docker sbuild

• If you are in the sudo group, remove the OEM account

  sudo userdel --remove --selinux-user oem
  

• If not, follow these steps

  1. Boot into the GRUB menu

     Press and hold the left Shift key during boot.

  2. Start the recovery mode

     Select the entry recovery mode

  3. Open the root console

     Select the entry root

  4. Remount the root partition

     mount -o rw,remount /
     

  5. Add your user in the group sudo

     usermod -a -G sudo <your_user>
     

  6. Continue the boot process

     Press Ctrl+C

For security reasons, I suggest you delete the OEM's account and change the root password. You can delete the OEM's account with sudo userdel accountlogin and change the root password with sudo passwd

To consider the possibility that the OEM may have enabled the root account, perhaps a better alternative is to disable the root account altogether with sudo passwd -ld root More info here