Just my two cents... there are many reasons why a supported and updated version is important, and why mainframe is just an other (big, complex) server in the computer room.
Linux on z: servers that were located in DMZ, now running on z usually without fw ("because it slows communication"). I also involved in a case where client error destroyed a large complex database while the user used unsupported version. IBM refused to support them (ibm Israel did support). At the end, I had to unload parts of the database, correlate them and delete destroyed ones. Software should be one step behind last ptf and red alerts should be inserted immediately. נשלח מה-iPad שלי ב-12 ביולי 2017, בשעה 19:21, Charles Mills <charl...@mcn.org> כתב/ה: > It's not Windows versus z/OS. Whether it is number of instances or number of > viruses or number of mentions in airline magazines, that battle was over a > long time ago. > > "Windows has more viruses than z/OS" is not a substitute for being > up-to-date with support and patches. "But Windows is much worse" will not > get your data or your money or your ATM network back. > > I work for a z/OS security software vendor. We had a prospect tell us they > were not going to buy our product because "they had a lot of Windows systems > and only one z/OS system, so they were not focusing on z/OS." Do you see the > logical flaw there? > > It's not the malware you know about that should worry you the most. The > phrase "zero day exploit" comes to mind. > > Charles > > > -----Original Message----- > From: IBM Mainframe Discussion List [mailto:IBM-MAIN@LISTSERV.UA.EDU] On > Behalf Of R.S. > Sent: Wednesday, July 12, 2017 8:30 AM > To: IBM-MAIN@LISTSERV.UA.EDU > Subject: Re: Running unsupported is dangerous was Re: AW: Re: LE strikes > again > > W dniu 2017-07-12 o 15:53, Charles Mills pisze: >>> I know some malware for Win10, but I cannot remind any for z/OS 1.4... >> Partially because most of the community has a policy of publicizing >> vulnerabilities, but z/OS does not. The fact that you do not know of >> any malware for z/OS 1.whatever does not mean that it does not exist. >> >> Or expanding on Timothy's point, if you were developing malware, you >> would have an interesting decision which of the two operating systems to > target. >> Windows is high number of instances/low value each -- kind of the >> WalMart shopping of malware opportunities. z/OS is low number of >> instances/high value each -- kind of the Tiffany of malware >> opportunities. With Windows you would take a shotgun approach: "how >> many machines can I infect, and hope to make some money off of a >> percentage?" so naturally some number of your targets would end up >> discovered and publicized. With z/OS, you would take a very targeted > approach: "what one machine can I break into and steal a lot?" >> Whether you were successful or not, there might not end up being any >> publicity. >> >> Phrasing it differently, for Windows you would develop "malware" -- >> mass market malware, that would end up with a name and publicity >> (named by the anti-malware folks, not the authors). For z/OS, you >> would develop a specific targeted attack. It might be an "approach," >> not a "malware package," and might not end up with a name (other than >> "XYZ Bank's ATMs were down for the third day in a row ..." or "ABC >> Airlines experienced a massive outage yesterday ..."). >> >> The absence of evidence is not the evidence of absence. > > True, but ...I still rely more on z/OS 1.4 than on Windows 10. In case of > Win10 I have proofs of evidence - it is a little bit more than lack of > proofs. > BTW: z/OS is quite old (including previous names) - how many viruses are > known for this system? Yes, I know, the absence of evidence is not the > evidence of absence - however it's 50+ years of the absence! > > > Last, but not least: I'm NOT saying that running unsupported (and not > patched) system is something good. Even for zOS family. > However keeping very important data in Windows system is also not good idea, > is it? > > ---------------------------------------------------------------------- > For IBM-MAIN subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions, > send email to lists...@listserv.ua.edu with the message: INFO IBM-MAIN ---------------------------------------------------------------------- For IBM-MAIN subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions, send email to lists...@listserv.ua.edu with the message: INFO IBM-MAIN