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Well there's probably not a whole lot of OS/2 ransomware, so they're less likely to wind up in the situation of the San Francisco Muni https://www.sfexaminer.c

Well there's probably not a whole lot of OS/2 ransomware, so they're less likely to wind up in the situation of the San Francisco Muni https://www.sfexaminer.com/news/you-hacked-appears-at-muni-stations-as-fare-payment-system-crashes/ https://www.sfexaminer.com/news/you-hacked-appears-at-muni-s...

ma2rten 7y ago
I don't think it's better security-wise to run software which doesn't get updates since 17 years.
- zrobotics 7y ago
  "IBM had long given up on it, even allowing another company to maintain the software in 2001. (These days, a firm named Arca Noae sells an officially supported version of OS/2, ArcaOS, though most of its users are in similar situations to the MTA.)" So I suppose there are still updates. As an aside, at $129 for the personal edition [0] I want to pick it up just for the novelty of having an OS/2 machine running on modern hardware. [0] https://www.arcanoae.com/shop/arcaos-5-personal-edition/ https://www.arcanoae.com/shop/arcaos-5-personal-edition/
- kristiandupont 7y ago
  It means that they are an easier target for intentional attacks, but less likely to be hit by some in-the-wild virus or ransomware.
inferiorhuman 7y ago
It's worth noting that Muni's train control software was OS/2 based for quite a while. Unsure if they've upgraded to the newer Windows(?) based version since then. It was an off-the-shelf setup sold by Alcatel/Thales. Garbage at that. Despite being internet connected (sfmunicentral.com) I don't think it was effected by the downtime that the point-of-sale systems saw. That site came about after someone discovered a publicly accessible "admin" interface.
jancsika 7y ago
That would be reassuring if it wasn't a part of the biggest subway system in the world. I think you'd need an obscure OS and an obscure organization in order to significantly decrease the risk of the internet hating you enough to infect you with ransomware. Oops, a third requirement: your obscure OS can't be the same obscure OS used by the biggest subway system in the world. Because if someone did end up hitting NYC Subway why not hit the other instances that showed up in a scan? Is the hacker really going to think the extra 0.01% profit isn't worth the zero dollars it costs to infecting a few more machines?

ma2rten 7y ago

I don't think it's better security-wise to run software which doesn't get updates since 17 years.

zrobotics 7y ago
"IBM had long given up on it, even allowing another company to maintain the software in 2001. (These days, a firm named Arca Noae sells an officially supported version of OS/2, ArcaOS, though most of its users are in similar situations to the MTA.)" So I suppose there are still updates. As an aside, at $129 for the personal edition [0] I want to pick it up just for the novelty of having an OS/2 machine running on modern hardware. [0] https://www.arcanoae.com/shop/arcaos-5-personal-edition/ https://www.arcanoae.com/shop/arcaos-5-personal-edition/
kristiandupont 7y ago
It means that they are an easier target for intentional attacks, but less likely to be hit by some in-the-wild virus or ransomware.

inferiorhuman 7y ago

It's worth noting that Muni's train control software was OS/2 based for quite a while. Unsure if they've upgraded to the newer Windows(?) based version since then. It was an off-the-shelf setup sold by Alcatel/Thales. Garbage at that. Despite being internet connected (sfmunicentral.com) I don't think it was effected by the downtime that the point-of-sale systems saw. That site came about after someone discovered a publicly accessible "admin" interface.

jancsika 7y ago

That would be reassuring if it wasn't a part of the biggest subway system in the world. I think you'd need an obscure OS and an obscure organization in order to significantly decrease the risk of the internet hating you enough to infect you with ransomware. Oops, a third requirement: your obscure OS can't be the same obscure OS used by the biggest subway system in the world. Because if someone did end up hitting NYC Subway why not hit the other instances that showed up in a scan? Is the hacker really going to think the extra 0.01% profit isn't worth the zero dollars it costs to infecting a few more machines?