Kisco Boosts Security in WebReport/400

Information access is a double-edged sword these days. On the one hand, companies should take advantage of the ubiquity of network access to route data from back-office servers to the field, where it can help drive business. On the other hand, new regulations require tighter security measures for sensitive applications and data. Kisco Information Systems is addressing both ends of the information access spectrum with a new version of WebReport/400.

WebReport/400 was initially designed as a way of liberating iSeries reports by eliminating the need to print and mail them to recipients. The product did this by monitoring iSeries output queues, automatically converting spool files to common formats like PDF, HTML, CSV, and RTF, and then distributing the reports through e-mail, the Web, and FTP. The software is often used for distributing things like daily sales reports to field personnel, while IT professionals also use it to monitor the status of their servers.

However, there are certain dangers associated with automation. When people are no longer directly involved in the distribution of business knowledge, there’s a chance that the wrong people could get their hands on sensitive data. Kisco addressed this concern by restricting access to documents and encrypting PDFs with WebReport/400 version 7, which shipped about a year ago.

Kisco boosted security again with WebReport/400 version 8, which became available in September. With this release, Kisco is keeping better tabs on who’s getting reports e-mailed to them by adding a new option for displaying all the e-mail addresses that a report has been sent to. This list is available in the product’s report distribution notification e-mail.

Security has also been improved when WebReport/400 is used as a systems management tool for monitoring server or application errors. Kisco has added a new file monitor function that automatically kicks off an e-mail any time an OS/400 database file has been accessed, updated, or deleted. This function is configurable, and can be set to work only during off-hours, when people normally aren’t on the system.

Kisco says several other new features have been added with this release, including generating a list of the product’s entire address book; a new option to restore all previously saved spool files; the capability to route reports based on the contents of the user data field in a spool file; and more flexible file naming options (file names can be date-differentiated or sequentially numbered with a user controlled prefix, the company says).

WebReport/400 8.0 is available now. The basic version of the product costs $1,195 per server. WebReport/400 PDF, which adds PDF conversion capabilities, FTP support, and support for AFPDS overlays, costs $1,795 per server. WebReport/400 PDF LPAR, which allows users to run WebReport/400 in an unlimited number of partitions, costs $2,700. More information and 30-day trial downloads are available at www.kisco.com.