• Security Top of Mind as Massive Hacks Continue

  December 4, 2024 Alex Woodie

  The calendar indicates peace and joy, but instead a sense of dread and fear permeates business, as the number and scope of security breaches grows and new regulations loom on the horizon. Ransomware, in particular, is proving itself to be a thorny issue for companies of all sizes, including IBM i shops.

  The latest mega-hack involved Chinse state actors infiltrating the American telecommunications backbone, where they not only accessed huge numbers of call detail records (CDRs) – which they used for counter-espionage purposes – but also read text messages and listened to Americans’ phone calls.

  Known as Salt Typhoon, the …

  Read more

• Lost Data – The Silent Killer

  May 8, 2024 Richard Dolewski

  DATA is the BACKBONE of today’s organization. INFORMATION is the most valuable asset of the CORPORATION. When data is lost, held RANSOM, or simply unavailable, it negatively affects (and potentially halts) all desired business outcomes.

  Today’s dynamic business environments are based on a seamless flow of information. Organizations have invested in IT because they rely on technology to conduct business to sustain profitability.

  Systems of record that previously functioned in the background, include self-service and real-time connections, with endless application endpoints spanning across numerous clouds. Transaction flow of data now originates and is completed across numerous cloud interactions vs …

  Read more

• Raz-Lee Updates Anti-Ransomware

  August 16, 2023 Alex Woodie

  Ransomware is not the summer blockbuster that it was in 2021, when hundreds of unprepared organizations across the country succumbed to attacks. But neither has ransomware disappeared as a security problem. In fact, it’s probably a good idea to stake out a ransomware strategy, which could involve deploying Raz-Lee Security’s unique IBM i software.

  Raz-Lee Security rolled out its Anti-Ransomware product back in the summer of 2018, well before the huge uptick in attacks that occurred in 2021. The software works by first detecting ransomware attacks, which would typically target files in the IFS. It then would take action, …

  Read more

• A Decade of Data Breaches: Some Things Never Change

  August 9, 2023 Alex Woodie

  Why did Willie Sutton rob banks? “Because that’s where the money is,” he told a reporter. Fast forward to 2023, and data is the new currency, so it’s not surprising that bad guys are doing their best to steal it. While some techniques have changed, many aspects of data theft have remained the same over the years, according to the Verizon Data Breach Investigation Report.

  It was 2003 when the telecommunications company Verizon set up the Verizon Threat Research Advisory Center (VTRAC) to study emerging cyber threats. A year later, VTRAC investigators assisted in publishing the first Verizon Data Breach …

  Read more

• Capture Point Restore: The Perfect Companion For High Availability

  December 12, 2022 Ash Giddings

  Businesses are constantly challenged by cyberattacks, coupled by their ever-increasing diverse nature. Ransomware and malicious data deletion or corruption can originate from both inside or outside of the business and staying out of the headlines by preventing attacks or at worst limiting the impact is high on the agenda for many.

  There’s seemingly never a day goes by without a prominent attack being reported, damaging both the tangible capabilities to conduct business at the time, combined with intangible ongoing damage to business reputation that these destructive incidents invariably bring.

  Many businesses have wisely invested in high availability for their IBM …

  Read more

• The Global State of Cybersecurity Is Not Good

  September 14, 2022 Alex Woodie

  “It’s a jungle out there” may be the best way to summarize the state of cybersecurity at the moment, as recent global events coalesce into a melting pot of politically motivated hackers, the criminal underground, foreign scammers, and widespread domestic vulnerabilities.

  Let’s start with everybody’s favorite topic: scams. If you’re longing for the simple days of the Nigerian 419 scams, you’re not alone, as the playing field for scams has evolved considerably in recent years. That’s not to minimize the continued threat of the 419 scam, which sometimes resulted in a physical kidnapping, or worse. But the idea of getting …

  Read more

• Shipped Tape Capacity Up 40 Percent, LTO Program Says

  April 27, 2022 Alex Woodie

  LTO tape providers shipped 148 exabytes of total capacity in 2021, representing a 40 percent increase over the previous year, the LTO Program announced last week. The number shows how far data growth bounced back following the slowdown during the thick of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020.

  The total amount of compressed storage capacity delivered to customers jumped from the previous record of 114 EB in 2019, according to the LTO Program. The shipped capacity figure fell to 105 EB in 2020, an 8 percent drop from 2019.

  “Despite the significant business disruptions and uncertainty in 2021, LTO tape …

  Read more

• Glimpsing Hope in the IBM i Security Situation

  April 6, 2022 Alex Woodie

  These are dark days in the security business, thanks to the boom in ransomware, the looming threat of cyberwar with Russia, and the poor security of IBM i servers. But just as it’s darkest before the dawn, there could be some preliminary indications that the IBM i community is finally starting to wake up when it comes to securing their most important applications, systems, and data.

  It’s hard to be optimistic in the face of repeated failures. When it comes to IBM i security, those failures have been well-documented in annual State of Security reports for nearly two decades by …

  Read more

• How Fresche Fills Security Gap with Trinity Guard

  March 21, 2022 Alex Woodie

  We live in a world full of security threats. Black hat hackers – some working for themselves and some working for the governments of China and Russia – are constantly probing the Internet, looking for weak links in the information supply chain. With its acquisition of Trinity Guard, Fresche Solutions is determined to prevent your IBM i server from being one of them.

  It can be hard to fathom the impact that cybersecurity attacks have on the world, and the enormous pains that some organizations are taking to thwart them. In 2021, ransomware grabbed our attention thanks to large attacks …

  Read more

• Security Threats, They Are a Changin’

  November 17, 2021 Alex Woodie

  Ransomware came into 2021 like a lion, but rather than going out like a lamb, it seemed to get bigger and meaner. Even IBM i shops, which so often are protected from the wider security storm, felt the panic and sense of helplessness of having their previous data held for ransom. But early indications are that the security threat we’re talking about this time next year may be entirely different.

  It’s tough to overestimate the impact that ransomware had on American businesses and other institutions through the course of the year. We had indications that something big was unfolding a …

  Read more

Previous Articles