Category: Mainframes

Published on September 30, 2014

Mainframes are able to work with and process data using many different operating systems, applications, and protocols. They are also able to save that data onto many different kinds of storage media. What follows is a brief overview of some of the most common types…

Published on May 20, 2014

Enterprise systems can include mainframes and many other interconnected systems such as peripheral hardware, hundreds or thousands of virtual machines, native applications, Help Desks, BYOD users, and Cloud servers and storage. Here are some things to watch for while designing or reviewing your security system…

Published on March 20, 2014

Distributed computing came with the promise of many opportunities for cost savings. Companies expected to save money when they move their applications from a centralized mainframe to a distributed environment or cloud solution. However, it's not all sunshine and roses. Many hidden costs inflate the…

Published on March 3, 2014

No one knows how the power of the mainframe will be used in the future. But with 90% of Fortune 500 companies still using it to power their mission critical operations, and it being responsible for nearly all credit card transactions, one thing is for…

Published on February 12, 2014

2014 is a big year for tech anniversaries. There was a big celebration for the 30th anniversary of the Mac, which changed personal computing forever and the way people felt about their computers. There was also the 10th anniversary of Facebook, which changed the way…

Published on February 5, 2014

Although multi-factor authentication has been repeatedly proven to be a more secure way to protect user accounts from hackers, many common misconceptions still prevail about what counts as strong multi-factor authentication. Some account security measures that by themselves are weak multi-factor authentication, at best, include:…

Published on January 29, 2014

On this blog, we've discussed many of the important elements of data security, including encryption, access controls, multi-factor authentication, password management, and many others. However, no data security strategy is complete without physical control over the hardware. A comprehensive data security system requires physical control…

Published on January 22, 2014

Companies put encryption in place to protect their most valuable data. Properly implemented encryption adds a crucial layer of security to a database. In addition to strong access controls and multi-factor authentication, encryption can protect data from misuse, even if someone steals the hardware. In…

Published on January 20, 2014

There are plenty of reasons for a business to make sure its data is secure. Not least of these is avoiding the embarrassment of landing in a conspicuous spot on one of the many "Top Ten Worst Data Breaches of 2013" lists. Some breaches come…

Published on January 2, 2014

For the past two decades, the mainframe has been on a constant deathwatch with IT "experts" and analysts regularly predicting its downfall and extinction. However, the mainframe, both as a style of hardware and as a computing platform, has survived, thrived, and evolved to overcome…