Raz-Lee Unveils GUI for IBM i Journal Security Tool

Published: August 17, 2010

by Alex Woodie

Tracking down potentially fraudulent changes made to System i applications will be easier for users of Raz-Lee Security's AP-Journal tool now that the security software company has added a GUI to its journal management product for IBM's IBM i operating system. Raz-Lee says the new Eclipse-based GUI for the AP-Journal product is more intuitive to use than the old 5250 display.

Raz-Lee's AP-Journal augments the powerful journaling capabilities of the IBM i operating system to create a searchable record of all the changes made to applications, data, and system settings. The software doesn't guarantee that users with high level access (such as QSECOFR) can't tamper with applications, such as by raising salaries or lowering the price of a product (and pocketing the difference). Rather, products like AP-Journal ensure that there will at least be a trail of malicious activity if a trusted employee decides to go rouge.

There are several reasons why a System i shop might use a tool like AP-Journal. For starters, the IBM i OS doesn't include an easy-to-use utility for searching and sorting through the massive amount of records generated by IBM i journaling. More effective DASD utilization for long-term storage of journals is another. Still other users like the real-time alerting feature of AP-Journal, as well as the pre-defined reports for PCI, HIPAA, and SOX compliances that Raz-Lee provides. Last but not least is support for database reads. IBM i journaling doesn't natively track database reads (such as viewing directors' salaries); only changes, additions, and deletions.

In July, Raz-Lee gave potential customers one more reason to adopt AP-Journal: a graphical user interface. The new Eclipse-based GUI should make it even easier for administrators and managers to configure and use the product, and easier for owners and forensic accountants to search through gobs of journaled changes in pursuit of evidence of malfeasance.

Setting up and tracking IBM i application changes will be easier thanks to the new GUI that Raz-Lee recently released for its AP-Journal software.

The Israeli security company says the new GUI supports most common AP-Journal features, including: setting up the application; defining filter criteria; selecting which journaled files to track (including those spanning multiple database files); defining alerts based on thresholds; setting up special-purpose journal containers for long-term storage; viewing summary data; accessing detailed data; and accessing Raz-Lee's business intelligence tool, called Visualizer.

Raz-Lee sells two versions of AP-Journal, including the base AP-Journal Business Analysis product, and AP-Journal Regulation Compliance, which adds pre-defined reports for common regulations.

In addition to unveiling the new GUI, Raz-Lee touted some recent AP-Journal success stories. The vendor, which has U.S. offices in Nanuet, New York, says AP-Journal was critical for the regulatory compliance achieved at Toyota Boshoku America, which attained JSOX (the Japanese versions of SOX) in part with help from AP-Journal.

Another AP-Journal user is Promedico, the Israeli pharmaceutical and medical supply distributor. Raz-Lee says AP-Journal helped Promedico by ensuring that pharmaceutical expiration dates are valid, and by alerting managers to the potential delay of customer orders due to credit limitations. (While Raz-Lee markets AP-Journal primarily as a security and compliance tool, it is also commonly used as a real-time alerting engine, particularly when pieces of data from separate applications need to be pulled up and reconciled.)

The new AP-Journal GUI is available now. For more information, see www.razlee.com.

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