Helper Security

• The helper is a native code application
• It has access to all the client resources
• It has access to all network resources that the client has access to
• Installation and setup are under client control
• Some helpers are inherently dangerous
  • Postscript is a full programming language
  • It includes file access commands
  • A Postscript viewer can access your file system
  • There is no ``safe'' subset of Postscript run by viewers
• Similarly for Microsoft Word, and many other applications that accept scripting languages
• Users can setup their own handlers

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Slide 42

©Copyright 1997

Jan Newmarch