RE: [logs] About Windows NT/2000 logs

From: Marcus J. Ranum (mjrat_private)
Date: Tue Mar 05 2002 - 06:08:55 PST

  • Next message: Desai, Ashish: "RE: [logs] About Windows NT/2000 logs"

    dgillettat_private wrote:
    >  Their not being text files probably has something to do with the 
    >wide availability of hacker tools called "text editors" that can be 
    >used to arbitrarily change the contents of such files to cover an 
    >intruder's tracks.
    
    They're not text files because it's really hard to internationalize
    a text file. That particular design decision wasn't driven by security,
    it was driven by operational/developmental convenience. By outputting
    log messages in a binary code, Microsoft can provide linguistic decodes
    in the form of a .DLL that translates into the correct language.
    
    Binary file editors are not much harder to write than text file editors! :)
    read(fd,&ut,sizeof(struct utmp));
    ...
    
    mjr.
    ---
    Marcus J. Ranum          Chief Technology Officer, NFR Security, Inc.
    Work:                           http://www.nfr.com
    Personal:                      http://www.ranum.com
    
    
    ---------------------------------------------------------------------
    To unsubscribe, e-mail: loganalysis-unsubscribeat_private
    For additional commands, e-mail: loganalysis-helpat_private
    



    This archive was generated by hypermail 2b30 : Tue Mar 05 2002 - 09:03:41 PST