Viruses and Other Software Threats › Spreading Contaminated Software › Infecting Time-Sharing Systems

Infecting Time-Sharing Systems

Viruses can also attack time‑sharing systems. z/OS‑based, time‑sharing systems such as TSO/ISPF are just as vulnerable to attack as other systems. However, many online systems, such as CICS, IMS, and CA IDMS, are transactional systems. They seem to have less exposure than time‑sharing systems because they do not normally provide access to text editors, compilers, linkage editors, debuggers, and other facilities readily available to time‑sharing users. Unless the master operator’s commands are available or the systems developers built in a trap door that viruses can exploit, attacks on a transactional system are more difficult. Although properly designed and implemented transactional systems are highly resistant to external attack, internal attacks are always possible through the operating system.