Re: AS400 user password -- MIDRANGE-L

My wife describes pgmrs as some of the most unethical people around,
slightly better than management, salesmen, & lawyers. We have no "code of
conduct/ethics" to live by. The reporting argument has been around a long
time. Was a bystander at Common years ago when IBM and the Common Security
Task Force went at it. Boy, was that fun! Learned more about security in 2
hours of yelling than in previous 15 years.
IMHO, we should be ethical, never broadcast a vulnerability without proper
reporting, and the vendor has a fix (as long as the vendor is responsible
and makes a reasonably quick response). Every shop with a pgmr (not the
secofr) on this list became "more" vulnerable with the posting. This time,
IBM made a quick response. IBM does need a clearly stated method of
reporting (is it the 800-237-5511 Software Support? and clearly identify it
as a Security Issue). Put this on the website!
Long ago, in November 1991 was published the guidelines for being
responsible on the Internet, "Guidelines for the Secure Operation of the
Internet" (RFC1281)
http://info.internet.isi.edu/in-notes/rfc/files/rfc1281.txt
It requires that users be responsible, and vendors be responsible. This is
worth reading for both sides, and it's only a few pages. I still think, if
we want the AS/400 to live with the "big boys" of net computing, CERT
reporting is the way to go.  www.cert.org
Jim Franz

----- Original Message -----
From: "Leif Svalgaard" <leif@leif.org>
To: <MIDRANGE-L@midrange.com>
Sent: Tuesday, June 13, 2000 9:22 AM
Subject: Re: AS400 user password


> > Gene Gaunt is a talented programmer and writes some great stuff and I
don't
> wish
> > to bash him, but IMHO it was a mistake to post the code the way he did.
I
> would
> > think that a genuine concern for security would dictate that an Securty
> APAR
> > would be opened prior to posting this very serious exposure publicly
(And
> as a
> > programmer, wouldn't you rather be told personally about your bugs
before
> they
> > get posted on an internet forum?).  During the time that it took IBM to
> respond,
> > we were all hanging out there with our passwords available to anyone
with
> > programmer abilities and a subscription to the MI list.
>
> I fully agree that IBM should be commended on their responsiveness on
> this, but one could speculate how long this would have taken, had Gene
> NOT published his code first.
>
>
>
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