SecureMyi.com Security and Systems Management Newsletter for the IBM i             January 8, 2014 - Vol 4, Issue 1
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Feature Article

Checkup on your User Profiles for 2014 and Beyond

By Dan Riehl - SecureMyi.com

IBM i provides some great administration tools to help you manage the user profiles on your system. While there are scads of commands that can be used in user profile management, I have selected I few of my favorites that you may want to add to your security management 'bag of tricks'.

Finding User Profiles with Matching Passwords

The CL command ANZDFTPWD(Analyze default passwords) is a tool that allows you to easily generate a list of users who have passwords that exactly match the UserID name. These matching Passwords are called 'Default Passwords'. In addition, the command optionally allows you specify an action to be taken against those offending profiles. You can specify that the profiles are to be disabled(i.e. the user cannot sign on), or that you want to set the password to an expired state(i.e. the user must assign a new password next time they sign on.)

Here is the report generated by the ANZDFTPWD command.


             User profiles with default passwords	           Page    1
5770SS1 V7R1M0  100423	                        OPENSYS   01/03/14  09:51:19

Action taken against profiles  . . . . . . :   *NONE
User
Profile         STATUS         PWDEXP     Text
SDCXCADA        *ENABLED        *NO       Willy Singer
SDCXCCAA        *DISABLED       *NO       Garret Butcher
SDCXCCAF        *ENABLED        *NO       Charly Boller
SDCXCCMG        *DISABLED       *NO       Fark S. Barr
SDCYCCTH        *ENABLED        *NO       Mike K. Adams
SSDCYCDR        *DISABLED       *NO       N. K. Griffen
QSYSOPR         *ENABLED        *NO       System Operator	

When you run this command on your system, you may see similar results to this. Several user profiles have matching passwords, and many are enabled. One really nasty entry in the list is the one for QSYSOPR. The QSYSOPR profile has a matching password, and is enabled. Anyone trying to break into your system would most likely try to log-in with the default IBM supplied profiles like QSECOFR, QSYSOPR, etc.

I cannot stress the importance of making sure that no entries ever appear on this list. User profiles should never have matching passwords. If they do, your system security can easily be compromised.

Checking up on SST/DST UserID and Passwords

Prior to IBM i 6.1, if you wanted to check for Default Passwords for Service Tools UserIDs, and general Service Tools User Settings, you had to Start System Service Tools(STRSST), and provide a valid service tools UserID and Password. As of IBM i 6.1, IBM has provided the Control Language command Display System Service Tools Users(DSPSSTUSR), which allows you to view the settings of your Service Tools Users.

Read More about some Favorite Tools

In This Issue


Featured Article - Checkup on User Profiles

Featured Video - New Security Features

Security Shorts - Update on QINACTITV

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Kisco Releases New Self Service Password Reset Product

Kisco Information Systems has announced a new software product for the IBM i platform called iResetMe. It is an end-user password reset utility that addresses the issue of re-activating disabled and expired profiles from a secure browser session hosted directly on the IBM i.

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January Events

Reduce the Cost and Effort of IBM i Auditing
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Wednesday, January 15 1:00pm CST
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Security Shorts -

Update on the QINACTITV System Value

IBM i 7.1 PTFs make Big Changes

By Dan Riehl

In the December 11 issue of the SecureMyi Security Newsletter I discussed the topic of the System Value QINACTITV, the system's Workstation Inactivity Timer. This system value can be used to cause inactive interactive jobs to end or be disconnected. The action taken against an inactive interactive job is based upon the system value QINACTMSGQ.

By way of a few PTFs for IBM i 7.1, IBM has updated the functioning of the inactivity timer to make it smarter and more precise. If you are running on IBM i 6.1 or earlier, or have not installed the below listed PTFs for IBM i 7.1, the December 11 article applies to your system.

To Read about the PTFs and the updated functioning of the inactivity timer for IBM i 7.1, refer to Dawn May's IBM i Technical iCan Blog entries listed here.

iCan Blog Entry for IBM i 7.1 PTF SI46398
IBM Improves the handling of the Inactivity Timeout

iCan Blog Entry for IBM I 7.1 PTF SI50502
More Changes for the handling of QINACTITV

Thank you very much to Dawn May for providing this updated information for the PTFs for IBM i 7.1

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