RE: Ignore *SYSTEM state of objects?? Search 400 article.

["Hall, Philip" <phall@xxxxxxxx>]

> Correct checksums allow it to restore at highest security and *SYSVAL
> levels??

No, since one of the sysvals allows you to refuse to restore system state 
programs, period.

> ..Well, not only immature and unprofessional behaviour can result.  Could
> get much worse than that.  (But from what verifiable info I've seen, the
> WORST 400 folks'll face is a walk-in-the-park compared to what any other
> OS
> user's contend with day-in-and-day-out.  Just saying the potential's out
> there.)

I believe the reasons include; 

1. The fact that the iSeries community is tiny, relative to other OS 
communities actually helps us; it would probably be an outsider that would 
write something of malware nature, since most of the people that could do it 
are know within our community. An outsider would see little gain doing it - 
remember most of the malware writers are after their 15 mins of fame, the name 
of their malware in the press.

2. Transport of such malware between iSeries machines is nigh on non-existent. 
If someone was to do it, at the moment it would be very, very localised to a 
machine or two, which again would make the forensics on tracing the culprit 
very simple (or at least simpler).

Don't get me wrong though, I understand that there *are* some very nasty 
things, that are doable on the iSeries so of course we shouldn't get complacent 
or sloppy with our security. 

One other point; when all the exploitable holes in Windows & Linux & Unix etc. 
have been plugged, I think people may start looking elsewhere.

--phil