Re: What's the Big Deal in Solaris Version Being Identified?

From: Paul Eggert (eggert_at_twinsun.com)
Date: 07/29/03 

Date: Mon, 28 Jul 2003 23:34:41 -0700

Rich Teer <rich.teer@rite-group.com> writes:

> There is a (somewhat misguided) school of thought that says if
> you advertise the version of the OS you're using, you're giving
> the Bad Guys info to help them crack your systems, so changing
> the banner allegedly thwarts that.

Here's one example of that school of thought. The Recording Industry
Association of America (RIAA) attempts to discourage hackers by
setting their web server's banner to "TST-SECURE-OS". (They actually
run Microsoft IIS 6.0 atop Windows Server 2003.) By all reports, they
are regularly hacked into. See:

Ashlee Vance
RIAA blocks attacks with TST-Secure-OS
The Register (2003-07-25)
http://www.theregister.com/content/6/31983.html