• Cybersecurity Still Top IBM i Concern, But AI And Others Are Creeping Up

  January 27, 2025 Alex Woodie

  Fortra last week formally released its 2025 IBM i Marketplace Survey results, which marks the start of the second decade of analysis into the IBM i community. In the closely watched Top Concerns component, there were minor changes in the top four items, led by cybersecurity for the ninth straight year. But what’s notable in 2025 is that there’s movement at the bottom of the list, indicating heightened interest in items such as artificial intelligence and machine learning.

  IBM i users from around the world took Fortra’s annual IBM i Marketplace Survey in late 2024 – 250 of them …

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• GenAI Is Now Creating Malware Delivery Vehicles

  September 25, 2024 Alex Woodie

  As if the threat posed by human bad actors wasn’t enough to admins up at night, security professionals are now tasked with preparing defenses for AI actors, including malware created by generative AI. That’s the takeaway from a new report published this month by HP that documents GenAI-generated malware. IBM i security professionals should take note.

  The September 2024 edition of the HP Wolf Security Threat Insights Report brought some concerning news around GenAI. While the HP Wolf Security team had seen convincing phishing lures created by GenAI, it hadn’t seen any actual malicious code written by GenAI before.

  But …

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• Fortra Leans On XDR For Full Spectrum Security

  July 22, 2024 Alex Woodie

  When it comes to security, more is often better. As in, more security professionals running more security products and services that deliver more overlapping coverage of your security weaknesses. The good news for IBM i shops is that Fortra delivers more solutions with more coverage than probably anyone else in the industry, particularly with its XDR solution.

  XDR, or extended detection and response, is the state of the art for enterprise security today, and essentially is replacing security information and event management (SIEM) tools at the top of the security food chain, says Tom Huntington, the vice president of technical …

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• Focusing On People: Strengthening Cybersecurity In IBM Power Systems

  March 4, 2024 Tom Horan

  In the digital realm, cybersecurity is crucial, particularly for essential infrastructures like IBM Power Systems. These machines support various business functions and are prime targets for cyberattacks. Even the most fortified tech defenses can crumble due to one human error. This concise guide highlights the critical importance of the human element in safeguarding IBM Power Systems from cyber threats and outlines key strategies for implementing a people-centric security framework.

  Understanding The Threat Scene

  The cyber threat landscape is constantly evolving and becoming increasingly complex, with hackers continuously devising new, innovative tactics to exploit vulnerabilities. Among the emerging trends are ransomware …

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• Thoroughly Modern: From Tradition To Transformation For IBM i In The Era Of Cloud And AI

  February 12, 2024 Monica Sanchez

  The value of IBM i is undeniable, especially if you are running an IBM i shop. But that does not mean IT leaders can ignore pivotal market changes in cloud, cybersecurity, and AI. These disruptive forces all have something in common – they are driving change. They are shaping operations and future strategies, pushing IT leaders to innovate.

  As we dig deeper into these transformative forces, it becomes clearer that the path forward for IBM i shops is all about continuous evolution and strategic foresight.

  Cybersecurity: Trends and Tactics

  Cybersecurity has been a major concern in the past few years. …

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• Four Hundred Monitor, February 7

  February 7, 2024 Jenny Thomas

  We finally flipped the page into February after the year that was January. (Did January seem extra long to anyone else?) While everyone seems to be proceeding with caution in the face of these uncertain economic times and world unrest, we are nonetheless proceeding. This week’s Top Stories continue to focus on AI and cybersecurity, and all things IBM, and that’s probably not going to change any time soon. We are also happy to see our calendar starting to fill back up, so be sure to take a look to see what learning opportunities have been added.

  Top Stories From

  …

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• IBM i Job Outlook for 2024 Not Great, But Not All Bad Either

  January 17, 2024 Bob Langieri

  First, the good news: Salaries for IBM i and RPG developers and programmers continue to go up. Average salaries of new hires of senior developers in 2023 have been getting $120,000 to $130,000. I predict this going up 6 to 10 percent in 2024, to $127,000 to $143,000. Some with specialized skills will get 10 to 20 percent more.

  This is why it’s important to add to your skills. IBM i salaries still pale compared to other more popular platforms and skills. Hiring is still very slow in the IBM RPG world as companies are doing more with less! Hot …

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• Government Cracks Down on Security Responses, Unpatched Vulns

  December 6, 2023 Alex Woodie

  New federal rules that go into effect next week require public companies to share information about past security incidents within four days of the event, as well as detail in annual reports how they’re preparing for future attacks. And a state prosecutor in New York fined a company for allowing hackers to steal customer data through a critical zero-day security vulnerability that was left unpatched for 11 months.

  The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC)’s new cybersecurity rule that went into effect on October 1 requires public companies to report details of cybersecurity incidents that impact their operations. Companies must report …

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• Why You Should Be Concerned About the MGM ‘Vishing’ Attack

  September 27, 2023 Alex Woodie

  Las Vegas casino giant MGM Resorts International has lost millions of dollars this month and suffered damage to its brand as a result of a high-profile ransomware attack that is still ongoing across several of its properties. The hackers that infiltrated MGM’s computer systems are said to have used a low-tech social engineering technique dubbed “vishing” that just about any company is susceptible to, including IBM i shops.

  The systems that hackers shut down on September 11 may or may not be IBM i servers or connected to them. MGM has been an IBM i user in the past, just …

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• Midsummer Security Indicators: Hot and Gloomy

  August 2, 2023 Alex Woodie

  The hot summer heat is smothering Americans like a tight polyester jacket these days. Also having big impacts on Americans are hackers, security vulnerabilities, spam, and malicious emails, which seem to be peaking with the seasonal fry.

  Security software company Securin scanned 8 million addressable IPs among US state government systems, and discovered 119,000 instances of high-risk services that could be easily exploited, according to a report released yesterday, dubbed “The State of Cybersecurity in America.”

  All told, Securin found 3,700 exposed databases (Db2 among them), 3,400 exposed Secure Shell (SSH) endpoints, 2,780 exposed File Transfer Protocol (FTP) systems, and …

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