RE: How Secure is Windows, Really?

From: Walden H. Leverich

Um.... So do all the Windows attacks.... Remove my access to the box and
I can't attack it. I'm on a windows box right now, go ahead, attack
it... You can't. _ALL_ windows exploits require access to the box to
work too.

Yeah, but there are two real big differences.

First, it's very difficult for an iSeries user to elevate his or her
privileges.  On the other hand, there are many, many Windows attacks that
allow a user to do just that.  So unless you have no users at all on the
server, it's not safe.

Second, many Windows shops run IIS, which is an immediate vector for
anonymous users to attack the system.  IIS buffer overruns have been endemic
in Windows and allow outside users to execute code that then runs in the
security context of the IIS server.

Granted they continue to lock these things down, but there really is no
matching vector on the iSeries.  You can't perform a buffer overrun and gain
QSECOFR access.  It just doesn't happen.

Joe