Security Month
Presented by Vertali
PowerTerm End-of-Life: Why Organizations Must Act Now – And Why the December 10 Webinar Is Critical
In March 2025, Ericom PowerTerm, a terminal emulator still used by thousands of organizations to access mainframes, IBM i systems, Unix hosts, VMS machines, and other mission-critical environments, officially entered End-of-Life (EOL). For decades, PowerTerm provided...
Mainframe AI Agents: The Interns Who Never Sleep
A conversation with BMC Anthony Doroand Leah Sokalov.A Knowledge Problem That Can’t Wait Amanda Hendly, Managing Editor of Planet Mainframe, met with Distinguished Engineer Anthony Doro and Senior Product Manager Leah Sokalov, both from BMC. The conversation focused...
The “Experience Required” Paradox: Companies Can’t Fill Roles, Workers Shut Out
This article originally appeared in Forbes on February 5, 2025. Reposted with permission. Breaking into a cybersecurity career has never been easy and today it’s more competitive than ever. At the same time, there is a well-documented cybersecurity talent shortage,...
The good, the bad and the ugly: generative AI and cybersecurity
Putting the AI into mAInframe security Artificial intelligence can be as much a help as a threat: a powerful tool in the hands of either the good, the bad or the ugly. Today’s threat landscape and cybersecurity requirements are more complex and challenging than ever....
Mainframes: Silent Giants of the Digital Era
In the whirlwind of technological advancements, it's easy to overlook the foundational pillars that support our digital world. Mainframes, often perceived as relics of a bygone era, continue to play a pivotal role in orchestrating the symphony of modern data. These...
Thoughts from a Mainframe on Halloween
It was a dark and stormy night in the data center. 🌩️ The fans hummed softly, and the LEDs blinked like little ghosts in the darkness. I had experienced many Halloween nights as a mainframe, but this one was different. There was an eerie presence in the air — and it...
Defense against the dark arts — mainframe security
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...
Advancing Mainframe Security with Ethical Mainframe Hacking
Written by: David Bruce Put on your hoodie and head for a darkened room! Oh. Wait. Sorry, that’s just the movie version. Despite the stereotype, hackers are real, and they’re dangerous! It’s now their full-time job and they are doing it well. In July, ransomware...
Security Month
Presented by Vertali
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...
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...
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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
Zoom - Virtual Meeting -
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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
Partnership to Accelerate Secure AI Deployment, Introduction of New Agentic Modernization, and more
IBM Partners with OpenAI to Accelerate Secure AI Deployment for Enterprises Across Core Operations Kyndryl Introduces New Agentic Modernization Services-As-Software Scaled Through Kyndryl Bridge BMC Achieves the AWS AI Competency Kyndryl Named 2026 CIO 100 Award...
Mainframe Jargon Challenge
Every technical field develops its own language, and the mainframe world is no exception. Whether we’re talking about the alphabet soup of multi-letter acronyms or terms that have been part of the platform for decades, mainframe jargon serves as a kind of shorthand...
AI Ranked as Top Priority, Lightwell at No Cost to Universities, and more
Rocket Software Study Reveals 94% of Financial Services Leaders Rank AI as a Top IT Priority IBM Study: One in Four Malicious Breaches are AI-Enabled, Costing Companies $6 Million on Average IBM and Red Hat Offer Lightwell at No Cost to Universities, NGOs and Think...
❓Mainframes at the Movies
With summer blockbuster season upon us, it’s time to turn our attention away from the workaday world of the datacenter to its fictional representation. Mainframes have made memorable appearances on both the big and small screen for decades—sometimes portrayed as...
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...


