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Cyber Security Month

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...

Mainframe security—Early Warning needed to beat back hackers
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...

The Evolution of Cybersecurity. From Cascade to Quantum
Cybersecurity is a journey. The last three decades show that hackers and security teams have continually competed with each other, adapting to a changing environment. Both have learned from each other, but cybersecurity has—perhaps inevitably—always had to catch up to...

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...
Latest

CICS Security – ADCD and Dallas Z ISV RDP
In RACF security terminology, CICS is a resource manager. Resource manager security can be enabled or disabled. Dallas Z ISV RDP provided CICS security is disabled. Why? CICS manages many resources where enabling security requires decisions about which specific CICS...

Cyber security and cyber resiliency for financial institutions (and everyone else)
For everyone with a mainframe, cyber security and cyber resiliency are important. For financial institutions, a major breach could, potentially, not only lead to the company going out of business, but, as we saw in 2008, could also lead to significant parts of the...

Ill winds: Why Mainframe Security Should be Heading Your 2021 Priorities List
It’s an ill wind that blows no good, and profits nobody. That old nautical phrase popped into my head when I first heard about the SolarWinds supply chain compromise. We’ll return to that later, and its implications. But first I wanted to take a look at a few of the...

Zero Trust Architecture Mobilizes Organizations to Safeguard Mainframe
Tried and true, the mainframe is here to stay as the backbone of our digital economy. Even as we advance to include new storage systems, all of our data exists on a mainframe somewhere. In fact, by 2030, there will be 40 trillion mobile transactions per day and the...

IT Security is Business-Critical: And I Hate it…
Okay, that's it - I hate IT security. And I really think that many folks in IT are actually like Mordac, the Preventer of IT, from the Dilbert comic strip. Okay, that’s not fair... Allow me to back up just a bit to explain where I'm coming from. Recently, one of my...

Security complacency: is your mainframe at risk?
This has been a fine summer. And I’m not talking about the weather: I mean the whopping fines proposed for infringements of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) by Marriott Hotels and British Airways, followed by an even bigger fine in the US for Equifax –...

Summer – the season for cyber attacks
Keeping your mainframe secure is probably one of your top priorities. You’re looking at cryptography and introducing multi-factor authentication (MFA). You may even be running SIEM software to keep up-to-date with what’s happening on your mainframe (and elsewhere)....

Breach recovery – the fast and the furious!
Your organization has had a data breach. You’ve managed to confirm that it’s not a false alarm, it really is an issue. And now you need to recover from it. What do you do? The US Commerce Department’s National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) has produced...
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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!

Join Planet Mainframe at SHARE Cleveland for Trivia, Prizes, and More
Next week, SHARE is taking over Cleveland, Ohio, and we’re bringing the party to Booth #612! If you’re going to be there, here’s what we’ve got planned: Look for these friendly faces: Amanda Hendley, Mark Wilson, and Penney Berryman Celebrating the 2025 Influential...

Mainframes and Their Rivals
For decades, mainframes have stood quietly at the heart of global enterprise computing, but they haven’t been without competition. From the rise of minicomputers to the spread of UNIX systems and the open-source movement, each wave of innovation has challenged the...

Industry-Wide Security Event, Accelerate Mainframe Migrations, and more
IBM Announces z/OS 3.2 to Power AI-Driven, Secure Hybrid Cloud Workloads Vertali APAC brings MainTegrity® CSF to Australia Industry-Wide Security Event: Vanguard Security & Compliance 2025 Kyndryl Launches New AI-Powered Services to Accelerate Mainframe Migration...

Mainframes in Pop Culture
We’re in the long, hot days of summer here in the Northern Hemisphere, and while many of us may not be on summer holidays, our Planet Mainframe Trivia Quiz is going to venture into new territory - mainframes in pop culture! Mainframes may be known for their...

IBM Power11, SHARE Cleveland Technical Agenda, and more
IBM Introduces Power11: Purpose-Built Infrastructure for the AI Era A cornerstone of IBM’s AI strategy is building the infrastructure to support it. This month, IBM introduced IBM Power11, the latest generation of IBM Power® servers, built for the era of AI,...

CICS Month Trivia
It’s CICS month at Planet Mainframe! That means we’ll spend some time this month exploring the system that’s been the bedrock of enterprise transaction processing since the 1960s. CICS grew out of the idea of Ben Riggens, an IBM systems engineer working at Virginia...