[Info-vax] OpenVMS x64 Atom project

[Simon Clubley]

On 2021-06-03, Stephen Hoffman <seaohveh at hoffmanlabs.invalid> wrote:
> On 2021-06-03 04:09:27 +0000, Dave Froble said:
>
>> I must observe that at this time, ransomware is a rather good friend to 
>> VMS.  Caviets are IT people would need to be aware of VMS, and, it may 
>> someday be a target.  But not today.
>
> I've been involved in two cases of ransoming on OpenVMS. I expect there 
> have been others too, handled quietly. Been involved in OpenVMS 
> security breaches, too. Fun times. Not.
>

Thank you for posting this Stephen.

So David, do you still think that VMS doesn't have a problem in this
area ?

VMS doesn't even have the application isolation and security containment
features that are present as standard in some other operating systems
such as Linux.

> If you're not taking steps to secure your apps and source code and 
> data?WORM tapes, and/or off-site, and/or whatever?it's time to start 
> taking a very serious look around your data centers.
>

Stopping the use of unencrypted communication protocols on your internal
networks would be a good idea as well.

> That some of these breaches involved the attackers investigating the 
> computer and network environment for weeks or months?before the data 
> encryption started?should scare all of us.
>

Unfortunately, that doesn't really surprise me given what is considered
to be normal these days when someone is going after a specific target or
a specific set of targets.

Simon.

-- 
Simon Clubley, clubley at remove_me.eisner.decus.org-Earth.UFP
Walking destinations on a map are further away than they appear.