Cyber Security Month
The Hidden Cybersecurity Battle Inside the Mainframe 🎧
Mainframes remain the backbone of enterprise IT—but as cyber threats evolve, so must the defenses. In this podcast, Ken Chism, Head of Worldwide Cybersecurity Sales at BMC Software, shares an inside look at the changing landscape of mainframe security. Ken discusses...
Mainframe Penetration Testing: Why It Matters More Than Ever
The goal is not disruption but discovery. For decades, mainframes have been at the heart of critical industries such as finance, healthcare, government, and retail. Since IBM introduced the System/360 in 1964, these systems have earned a reputation for being reliable,...
Security has no boundaries
In today's complex cybersecurity landscape, staying current with software updates is just one piece of the puzzle. To truly protect your organization, it's essential to prioritize comprehensive security measures beyond routine patching. How CrowdStrike Changed...
All Things Cyber Security
October may be the month of falling leaves and pumpkin spice, but it is also the time when we turn our attention to all things cybersecurity. And, in the context of mainframe cybersecurity, observability is an essential piece of the puzzle. By maintaining...
Zero trust: Is server level or perimeter protection best?
If you’re running a big server like a mainframe, a zero trust strategy means you shouldn’t trust anything outside that box. If it’s your responsibility to protect the mainframe, you must ensure the right mechanisms are in place on the box itself. If you're in charge...
Fight ‘Shiny Object Syndrome’ with Mainframe Security 101
With continuous innovation and new functionality developed for mainframe security, many organizations can lose sight of the basics, which means they may never achieve a Zero-Trust security stance. The mainframe continues to evolve as a critical piece of the...
How Important is your Db2 Data—(Mainframe Modernization from a Data Security viewpoint)
When talking about Mainframe Modernization, we usually discuss DevOps, Zowe, APIs, Java, Python, etc. But how often does anyone discuss how your security posture needs to be modernized? Do terms like ‘least privilege’ and ‘zero trust’ mean anything to your...
Cyber Security Awareness Trivia
October is Cyber Security Awareness month at Planet Mainframe, so over here at Trivia Challenge we’ll be focusing our trivia topics on the ever-evolving topic of mainframes and cybersecurity. Mainframes have long been the backbone of critical industries, particularly...
Latest
Fortify Your Legacy Systems
A Digitalised State We live in a hyperconnected cyberworld driven by AI and machine learning. The age of digitalisation influences how we behave. In this world, it is all too easy for states, corporations, or criminals to overreach and access information they should...
Ransomware isn’t really a problem, is it?
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...
The Mainframe is Not Secure
October is cybersecurity awareness month, and Planet Mainframe is kicking it off with interview insights from Mark Wilson, Technical Director at mainframe services company Vertali and Conference Manager for GSE UK. "Is the mainframe secure? No. But it is...
Get ready for DORA
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...
Understanding Downtime – Quantifying the Impact of Mainframe Outages and the Value of Observability
No matter what your business is, chances are good that at least part of it is completed online. Whether that is records management, payroll, or customer purchases, the online portion of your business is most likely a very critical component of overall success. That is...
What You Said – (ClownStrike) CloudStrike
According to The Guardian, the Crowdstrike outage crashed an estimated 1% of all Windows PCs worldwide—or about 8.5 million—and is estimated to have cost the US Fortune 500 USD $5 billion. We asked you, Planet Mainframe readers, to share your thoughts on the...
Share Your Thoughts — What Does a Global Blackout Mean for Mainframe Companies?
Calling Crowdstrike’s global technology outage “inconvenient” is the understatement of the year. From airlines to banking, 9-1-1 emergency services to grocery stores, and hospitals to telecommunications, millions are maddeningly stuck. The technology blackout began...
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...
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Upcoming Events
IDUG EMEA 2025
Dusseldorf, GermanyIDUG will be taking place in Dusseldorf for the 2025 EMEA Db2 Tech Conference! Experience the custom Solution Center, workshops & hands-on labs, IBM’s certification & badging opportunities, as well […]
GSUK In-person Conference 25
The GSUK In-person Conference 25 is the leading independent Mainframe user event in the United Kingdom, bringing together hundreds of professionals, vendors, and thought leaders from across the enterprise IT landscape. Taking […]
Virtual IMS User Group | IMS Managed ACB Mandate After 6 Months – Adapting to the New Normal
Zoom - Virtual MeetingIMS Managed ACB Mandate After 6 Months – Adapting to the New Normal Six months after the IMS Managed ACB mandate, the landscape for IMS administrators and DBAs has fundamentally […]
Virtual CICS User Group | November 13, 2025
Zoom - Virtual MeetingRegistrations are available here!
New features for Data Integrity, TechXchange conference sessions, and more
Precisely Unveils AI Agents and Copilot for the Data Integrity Suite Broadcom North American Mainframe Technical Exchange – October 15–17, 2025, Plano, Texas IBM TechXchange Conference: Session Catalog Now Available New Mainframe Podcast: Mainframe Coven Adventures in...
Observability and Resiliency Trivia
At Planet Mainframe, September is the month that we pay special attention to two critical pillars of modern mainframe operations — observability and resiliency. Observability goes beyond traditional monitoring by providing deep insights into applications,...
Strategic partnership announcements, Mainframe integrations with Enterprise IT, and more
PopUp Mainframe and TES Enterprise Solutions Announce PartnershipBMC AMI Portfolio July 2025 ReleaseVertali Expands ‘New To Z’ ProgramIBM 2025 Cost of a Data Breach ReportNew release alert: IBM Ansible Core v1.15.0-beta.1 now availableMainframe Book Club Dives Into...
Mainframe Firsts
Mainframes have a reputation for being rock-solid, reliable…and maybe a little mysterious (to outsiders at least). But behind the green screens and acronyms lies a rich history of innovation that has shaped the modern computing world. From groundbreaking hardware...
Announcements at SHARE, Job-Ready Talent training, and more
IBM and Arivonix Announce Deep watsonx.ai Integration at SHARE Cleveland YUPRO Placement and Franklin Skills Launch SKILLSFIT™ to Deliver Job-Ready IT Talent, Filling Urgent Gaps Hitachi Vantara Recognized by GigaOm for Innovation in Object Storage Royal Cyber Unveils...
A Decade in Purple Chucks: Celebrating Planet Mainframe
When a group of mainframers started a part-time mainframe blog 10 years ago, they never imagined it would become a leading website for mainframe industry news. For over a decade, we’ve shared ideas, explored new innovations, and highlighted the people shaping the...