Ok, but why is Windows easier to hack than the mainframe?
Personally, I'd find a mainframe far easier to hack because I know a
little bit about control blocks, APF auth, SVC's, subsystems, address
spaces, RACF, etc., and I know far less about the equivalents on
Windows. But of course the first step is to get any kind of userid, and
that's done by pretty-much the same methods - regardless of platform.
On 5/6/2019 1:18 PM, Bill Johnson wrote:
It’s why banks stay on the mainframe. Security.
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On Monday, May 6, 2019, 4:09 PM, Bigendian Smalls
<[email protected]> wrote:
Bill, would you care to back that sweeping generalization up with some detail?
On May 6, 2019, at 22:06, Bill Johnson
<[email protected]> wrote:
Completely different. Hacking Microsoft is way easier.
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On Monday, May 6, 2019, 3:53 PM, Bigendian Smalls
<[email protected]> wrote:
Which is how 80% of all the hacks today start. Find purchase and advance your
position. This is how the game is played. It was as classic of a hack as
anything today.
On May 6, 2019, at 21:43, Bill Johnson
<[email protected]> wrote:
Still never would have occurred without a valid userid.
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On Monday, May 6, 2019, 3:18 PM, Charles Mills <[email protected]> wrote:
No.
From the link you cite:
"According to various sources, the hackers succeeded in finding (and exploiting) at
least 2 previously unknown errors enabling them to raise their authorisations in the
system. One of them was an error in an IBM HTTP server and the other one was an error in
the CNMEUNIX file, which in the default configuration has SUID 0 authorisations (which
means that by leveraging on the errors it contains, one is able to execute commands with
the system administrator’s authorisations)."
His "user" access to InfoTorg was not a problem for the mainframe. (It was a
problem for the MPAA lawyer whose account he accessed, but not for the mainframe in
general.) The above mainframe security vulnerability was.
Charles
-----Original Message-----
From: IBM Mainframe Discussion List [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf
Of Bill Johnson
Sent: Monday, May 6, 2019 11:17 AM
To: [email protected]
Subject: Re: mainframe hacking "success stories"?
The Pirate Bay hack acquired a valid mainframe userid and password off of a
Microsoft laptop. In effect, not really a mainframe hack. He just logged on.
https://badcyber.com/a-history-of-a-hacking/
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On Monday, May 6, 2019, 1:21 PM, Charles Mills <[email protected]> wrote:
#1: Noooooo. It was a legitimate mainframe hack (assuming you consider USS a
legitimate part of the mainframe, which it has been for 20 years or so). It was
an exploit of CGI buffer overrun.
#2: It drives me nuts to hear mainframers explain away mainframe breaches. "It wasn't really a mainframe
hack, they got in through USS." "It wasn't really a mainframe hack, they re-used a Windows
password." "It wasn't really a mainframe hack ... whatever." If your CEO was standing in front of
the press explaining how your company let x million credit card numbers go astray, would it matter HOW they got
into your mainframe, or only that they DID?" If your mainframe is vulnerable to a USS hack, or a shared
Windows password, or whatever, you need to fix THAT, or risk having to explain to your CEO why he got fired (like
Target's) for letting all those credit card numbers go astray.
Charles
-----Original Message-----
From: IBM Mainframe Discussion List [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf
Of Bill Johnson
Sent: Sunday, May 5, 2019 10:00 AM
To: [email protected]
Subject: Re: mainframe hacking "success stories"?
Wasn’t really a mainframe hack. It was a laptop hack that acquired legitimate
mainframe credentials.
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