The 2024 Arcati Mainframe Yearbook is underway! This publication has de facto reference work for IT professionals working with z/OS (and its forerunner) systems since 2005. The Yearbook’s highlights include a comprehensive annual user survey and an...
The stages in a mainframe breach are familiar to most mainframers these days. Firstly, the bad actors need to gain access to the mainframe. That is as simple as going to the web and buying a user id and password combo for as little as $120. But even worse if the...
Artificial intelligence (AI) is becoming more common place, and many people have used things like ChatGPT, a popular generative AI (GenAI) that can answer questions, write essays and poems, or summarize a book. However, like most things, AI can also be turned to the...
In my last article about ransomware, I mentioned how important it was for chief financial officers (CFOs) to ensure that the IT in their organizations was as secure as possible—particularly now that attacks can come from artificial intelligence (AI) bots that could be...
Even the news channels don’t make a big deal about cyberattacks these days. It’s happening all the time. It’s incredible how many people don’t recognize that there is a war going on right now between hackers and organizations with any kind of IT hardware. And when I...
Mainframers who thought the mainframe was too difficult a platform to hack are few and far between these days. However, mainframes can be hacked, and they are being hacked.In terms of security, what spells, incantations, and practices should organizations employ to...
Anyone, whether working on mainframes or not, can reflect on where in their career they are and what kind of help—i.e., training, mentoring, or coaching—will move them forward their career (and their work-life balance) successfully. But first, consider the differences...
When Beliefs Shape Machines Imagine two people talking in a bar—one believes in God, and the other doesn’t. One swears by Apple, the other by Android. One supports Trump, the other can’t stand him. It doesn’t matter which side you’re on; the point is that people...
In 2016, the least expensive city in the U.S. for annual data center operating costs is Sioux Falls, South Dakota, at $9,684,282 in annual operating costs[1]. In Canada, where the lowest risk associated with data centers is second only to the U.S., the costs of energy...
The Mainframe Witch-Hunt The Salem witch trials were an ugly moment in US history. A combination of groupthink, bad religion and confirmation bias led an entire community to act irrationally. And the results were not pretty. Twenty people—most of them women—were...
