Re: iSeries FTP security

These are my opinions only and not necessarily those of my employer...

Let me reiterate one more time. I think this is an important issue that 
people should be aware of and trying to make them aware of it is a worthy 
goal.

What I disagree with is the venue chosen (bugtraq) and the wording of the 
post. Bugtaq was not appropriate because the people that happen to follow it 
closely assume that anything posted pertains to vulnerabilities inherent to 
OSes and packaged software. Then to exacerbate the inappropriateness of the 
venue, it identifies the wrong components as the culprit.

Putting this on bugtraq is a bit like putting up posters in McDonald's 
saying that Big Macs cause heart attacks. It implies only Big Macs (which IS 
inaccurate) and doesn't really provide any useful information that people 
can use to make rationale decisions about their behavior.

In my opinion, the problem is not FTP or IFS or OS400. The problem is that 
in today's environments you cannot properly secure your systems without an 
exclusionary access control model. Exit points are not an alternative to 
access control. They augment access control in some useful ways, but they 
are not a substitute for it.

Pat Botz