DXR Security Archives

Kisco Bolsters IBM i Security Business With DXR Buy

May 6, 2024 Alex Woodie

Kisco Systems has acquired DXR Security, the company co-founded four years ago by IBM i security expert Carol Woodbury. The deal immediately boosts Kisco’s position in the IBM i security space, and gives Woodbury an opportunity to cement her midrange legacy.

Woodbury started her computer security career in Rochester, Minnesota back in 1984, when she was hired to work on securing IBM’s midrange platform. Over a 16-year career, she eventually rose to the position of AS/400 Security Team Leader and Chief Engineering Manager for Security when she retired in 2000.

Known simply by the community as the AS/400 security architect, …
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Consider Modernizing Your Approach to IBM i Security, Too

November 10, 2021 Alex Woodie

Many IBM i users are facing the reality that they need to modernize their IBM i applications, especially those based on monolithic blocks of fixed-format RPG. But other aspects of the IBM i experience can use some renovating too, including how organizations manage their security settings. Luckily, in the last few Technology Refreshes to IBM i, IBM has provided a slew of new SQL-based services for doing just that.

Traditionally on IBM i, administrators had two main approaches for viewing and changing security settings. They could view and control the settings directly using commands, often automated through CL programs. Or …
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Security Alert: The Anti-Alfred E. Newman Effect

August 9, 2021 Alex Woodie

For years, business leaders resembled Alfred E. Newman when it came to security. If “What, me worry?” wasn’t their motto, then it was something awful close. But amid a slew of high-profile cyberattacks on the nation’s infrastructure, corporate and government officials are – finally – starting to get the message.

“The Summer of Ransomware” began in May 2021, when hackers shut down the largest gasoline pipeline on the East Coast. That attack was followed by several other high profile attacks that shut down schools, meat processing plants, and healthcare networks in the U.S. and Western Europe. There has also …
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Adding Depth To Your IBM i Security Bench

June 28, 2021 Bill Hammond

Carol Woodbury of DXR Security is fond of saying that the IBM i platform is “securable” but not necessarily always secure, and the difference between the two is what people do and don’t do to actually use security tools. But there is more to security than the IBM i operating system and its system software.

As Woodbury will explain in a webcast being hosted on June 30, the most effective approach to cybersecurity is having multiple layers of defense mechanisms deployed to protect your systems. This is commonly referred to as “Defense in Depth.”

Because your IBM i platform holds …
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Taking A Centralized Approach To IBM i Security

June 7, 2021 Timothy Prickett Morgan

We are branching out and doing new things here at IT Jungle, and one of them is using video as well as text to get information about the IBM i platform across. Video is certainly not a new thing, and we have done a bit of it as part of consulting engagements, but starting now it is going to be part of what we do on an ongoing basis. We are grateful to IBM i security and high availability software vendor Precisely for initially supporting us in this endeavor.

For our first video interview, we sat down with John Vanderwall, …
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As Data Security Deteriorates, Reconsider Your Exposure

March 22, 2021 Alex Woodie

The shift towards digitalization wrought by COVID-19 and the associated lockdowns has given new life to cybercriminals, who are exploiting the changes in computer access patterns to steal data and enrich themselves. For IBM i shops, the time to lock down vulnerable endpoints in the system-of-record was yesterday.

If you’re not feeling a sense of urgency about the data security situation, then you’re not paying attention. Since the start of the year, numerous reports from security professionals have alerted the IT community to new and evolved dangers that are lurking online.

Consider a report due this week from SlashNext Threat …
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Long-Term Impacts of COVID-19 Predicted for IBM i Shops

March 17, 2021 Alex Woodie

The COVID-19 pandemic and the associated economic lockdown will have a long-term impact on how IBM i shops operate, a panel of experts said during the IBM i Futures Conference yesterday. From being innovative and agile to the importance of security and disaster recovery, there are lessons to learn across the board.

It’s been exactly a year since governments around the world instituted severe lockdowns to, ostensibly, stop the spread of the novel coronavirus that causes COVID-19. The lockdowns have come, gone, and come again in many parts of the world, injecting a level of uncertainty into our work lives …
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Looking For Some Insight On IBM i Security

February 17, 2021 Timothy Prickett Morgan

There is no question that one of the biggest challenges for IT infrastructure and the applications that frolic atop it is making it the whole shebang secure. And with companies needing to provide more access to systems with users being remote and new ways of allowing customers to directly place orders, rather than through normal distribution channels thanks to the acceleration of trends caused by the coronavirus pandemic, making sure IBM i systems are secure has never been more necessary.

Oh, and did we mention that the Internet is a hostile environment, if not an outright war zone?

People need …
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Is Information Overload Hurting IBM i Security?

September 28, 2020 Alex Woodie

What is wrong with IBM i security? If you look at surveys and reports, you would be hard pressed to find something that is not broken. From excessive authority and ransomware, to exit programs and default passwords, it can feel as if IBM i servers are rife with security failures.

IBM i shops are certainly aware of the security shortcomings. Security has been rated the number one concern in each of the past two IBM i Marketplace studies conducted by HelpSystems. In the most recent report, 77 percent of respondents rated security a top concern, the highest percentage …
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