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Security Month
Presented by Vertali
Mainframe Security: The Quiet Frontline of Enterprise Defense
For decades, the mainframe has been viewed as one of the most secure computing platforms on Earth. With tightly controlled access, centralized data management, and unmatched reliability, it earned its reputation as the “fortress” of enterprise IT. But, as evidenced in...
From Mainframe to Cybersecurity: Experience Is the New Superpower, Ladies
From Mainframe to Cybersecurity: Experience Is the New Superpower If you’ve written COBOL, debugged Assembler, or know how to resolve an S0C7 abend, chances are you belong to an older—and increasingly rare—demographic in tech. If you’re a woman, that group is even...
The Most Important Part for Cybersecurity
The relationship between education and security The digital age is a double-edged sword. While it offers unprecedented connectivity and innovation, it also presents a vast and ever-evolving landscape of cyber threats. From the devastating "mother of all breaches" in...
Cybersecurity in the Age of IoT: Safeguarding the Internet of Things
The emergence of the Internet of Things, or IoT, as it’s commonly known, has been a massive boon to just about every aspect of our society. It allows a multitude of physical objects in our everyday lives to connect us to the Internet. Popular products include home...
Total Network Failure on your Production System – What are the Chances?
Perhaps higher than you may think. Total loss of network connectivity is a critical event that can be hard to diagnose and recover from, especially if the systems specialists cannot connect to the system. The three mostly likely causes for total network failure on a...
Surveys, security and spaghetti
Mark Wilson reflects on the findings of a recent mainframe survey, explaining why security should be the number one priority, and why we need to start talking about complexity and observability. I read with interest the highlights of the Arcati Mainframe survey 2024,...
Vertali zTrust: Detect Network Activity and Control Traffic to Enhance Cybersecurity and Compliance
Vertali’s zTrust is a unique software solution that dramatically reduces the time, effort and costs needed to secure your operations and prove compliance with data standards and industry regulations. zTrust reveals network activity to and from your mainframe,...
Ransomware Attacks and your Health
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...
Security Month
Presented by Vertali
Introducing Cyber Security Month
We trust you've appreciated our September series, centered around Db2. Over the past few weeks, we've had the pleasure of sharing over 10 fresh, original Db2 articles with our dedicated audience. Today, we are thrilled to introduce an engaging new theme for...
Make Security Your Competitive Advantage
“If you spend more on coffee than on IT security, you will be hacked.” That was according to Richard Clarke, former special advisor on cybersecurity to the US President. He added, “What’s more, you deserve to be hacked,” which does seem a little harsh. Maybe...
Securing CICS with RACF
Implementing CICS Security with RACF can be a complex and demanding process. In order to do it to a level that creates a good balance can take time and requires good knowledge and understanding of both CICS and RACF. So I will explain the various steps in securing...
Why you need to protect your business with IBM Z Cyber Vault
It seems like every week there is a new story of a major company or organization being affected by a cyber-attack. It might be a ransomware attack, stolen user data, or other disruption to services, and may be initiated either by an external attack or internal...
Best Practices for Closing the Mainframe Security Gap
You could argue – as some folks have – that mainframes are inherently more secure than commodity servers because there are fewer variables at play on mainframe systems, making them easier to secure in some ways. The fact that mainframes account for a relatively small...
Fix the roof when the sun is shining: Data Loss Prevention
It’s high time we acknowledged that mainframe data loss is far more than a security problem. It’s fundamentally a business problem. As the old saying goes, prevention is better than cure. This applies to data loss and cyber attacks as much as anything else in life. If...
Db2 for z/OS: SEPARATE_SECURITY and SECADM
In the Db2 for z/OS module called DSNZPARM (ZPARM, for short), which provides the configuration settings for a Db2 subsystem, there is a parameter named SEPARATE_SECURITY. This ZPARM was introduced with Db2 10, and its purpose is to enable a Db2 for z/OS-using...
Quantum Safe Cryptography Overview
Quantum Safe Cryptography The Problem – Current Cryptography is Vulnerable to Quantum Computing Cryptography experts believe that by 2030 quantum computers will be advanced enough to cut the strength of symmetric key algorithms (such as AES, 3DES and RC4) by half, and...
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Upcoming Events
Events
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Virtual Db2 User Group | My All-Time Db2 Top Ten Lists
Virtual MeetingDate: November 17, 2026 - 11:30am ET Presenter: Craig Mullins What do Db2 performance, application development, database administration, and David Letterman have in common? Top Ten lists, of course! Join […]
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Virtual Db2 User Group | November 17, 2026
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Virtual CICS User Group | Latest Update on Security in CICS TS 6.3: The Journey to Zero Trust
Zoom - Virtual MeetingCICS has been advocating zero trust principles and introducing security-focused enhancements since CICS TS 6.1. This session will explore the latest security capabilities available in CICS TS 6.3 and how […]
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Virtual IMS User Group | December 15, 2026
Zoom - Virtual Meeting
Izzi Software Launches Z/XDC on Visual Studio Code to Speed Adoption and Boost Mainframe Debugging for the Future
New expansion to top debugging now available, integrating seamlessly into existing workflows and supporting young programmers by improving accessibility MINNEAPOLIS, August 3, 2026 — Izzi Software, owner of ColeSoft, the leading provider of debugging solutions for IBM...
What to Expect at SHARE Pittsburgh
With SHARE Pittsburgh approaching, SHARE President Art Gutowski joined Planet Mainframe to talk about what attendees can expect—and why the conference remains valuable for both newcomers and longtime mainframe professionals. Gutowski is nearing the end of his...
Real-Time Mainframe Software Visibility, SHARE Pittsburgh 2026, and more
BMC Brings Governed AI Agents to Enterprise Workflows and Mainframe Operations Precisely Delivers Real-Time Mainframe Software Visibility to the ServiceNow AI Platform IBM Reports Infrastructure Revenue Down 7 Percent SHARE Pittsburgh 2026BMC Brings Governed AI Agents...
What the New IBM z17 Rack-Mount Systems Bring to the Table
The z17 goes small, and I think that’s rather clever. On July 7, 2026, IBM announced new configurations of the z17, and for the first time ever, you can now get a rack-mount option right across the Z and LinuxONE portfolio. Not a new processor, not a new architecture,...
❓ROI, Business Case, and Tuning for Value: Round Two
This month at Planet Mainframe Trivia, we've been exploring how organizations maximize the value of their mainframe investments. Creating value doesn't end once a project is approved. Organizations continually look for ways to improve performance, optimize resources,...
Compact z17 and LinuxONE Systems, Real-Time Mainframe Software Visibility, and more
IBM Launches Compact z17 and LinuxONE Systems to Address Space and Cost Constraints Kyndryl Report: AI adoption accelerates as workforce readiness becomes the ROI difference maker Precisely Delivers Real-Time Mainframe Software Visibility to the ServiceNow AI Platform...