Every business owner must know this harsh truth: hackers will stay ahead of you if you don’t have a strong cybersecurity plan. Security automation for IBM Power Systems needs to be part of the equation.
Hackers are already using automation. Are you?
The threat is real. Devin Morrisey writes for AT&T that, as of October 2023, there were approximately 2,200 cyber attacks daily. That number is likely much higher today as hackers continue to deploy new technology. Morrisey underscores how damaging these attacks are, writing that “the average cost of a data breach is $9.44 million.”
It doesn’t have to be this way. You shouldn’t feel like every time you install a program or share information, you’re gambling with your business. But with cybersecurity automation for IBM i and other Power Systems, you can play the game without showing your hand.
Defining security automation for IBM Power Systems
Security automation uses technology to perform cybersecurity tasks that would otherwise be done by people. For operating systems like AS/400 and IBM AIX, that means using automated tools that are specifically designed with Power in mind.
Automation improves security, speeds up incident response, and reduces the risk of cyber threats.
IBM Power Systems handle large workloads and sensitive data, making them prime targets for cybercriminals. Security automation helps protect these systems by automating repetitive tasks such as patch management, user access control, and threat detection. This not only reduces the workload on IT teams but also minimizes the potential for human error, which is often a significant factor in security breaches.
Why you should care about cybersecurity automation for IBM i
Although the IBM i is considered a very secure platform, and has many built in features that make it securable, the default configurations are not necessarily secure.
In an article on the importance of cybersecurity, Maryville University makes the situation crystal clear: “Cybercrime is expected to cost global businesses more than $5 trillion in potential revenue over the next five years, with the largest losses found in markets such as IT, healthcare, and financial services.”
And it’s even more crucial for businesses to invest in cybersecurity automation for IBM Power Systems—but why?
IT infrastructures have undergone many changes over the past few years. A notable shift has come from the rise of remote work. It has expanded networks and vastly increased the use of personal devices within IT and security teams. When we combine the vulnerabilities posed by these personal devices with the increased complexity of multi-cloud IT deployments, and then we add the fact that hackers are using more sophisticated AI-driven automation than ever before, it’s easy to see that cyberspace has never been so dangerous.
That’s why something like security automation is so vital: IBM Power Systems often handle sensitive information, including customer data, financial records, and proprietary business information. If they aren’t patched and protected, they’re easy targets.
Cybersecurity automation for AS/400 enables you to be more proactive instead of relying on traditional reactionary measures alone to handle a cybersecurity threat—especially when you leverage IBM’s cybersecurity features or CloudFirst’s cloud hosting services.
Cybersecurity for IBM Power is a growing concern
This isn’t just an issue for multinational corporations either. As Dr. Shekhar Pawar writes, “90% of all businesses globally are small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), numbering close to 400 million. The most recent study, in which senior executives leading SMEs from several nations took part, found that these businesses are vulnerable to malware attacks, phishing attacks, insider threats, web attacks, ransomware, denial-of-service (DoS) attacks, man-in-the-middle (MITM) attacks, and similar kinds of other threats.”
The bottom line: it matters because your business matters. Your customers matter. And any process or service that falls short of keeping what matters protected from cyber attacks will always come at too high a cost.
The impact of security automation on your business
Cybersecurity automation will help secure your business. Knowing that security automation is always running 24-7 gives you peace of mind that you can’t put a price tag on.
Fortra’s case study on PhishLabs, a digital risk protection and external thread intelligence solution for IBM Power Systems, highlights the importance of cybersecurity automation.
As their business increased, the PhishLabs security operations center (SOC) needed to scale with it, but their people were starting to get stretched thin. They spent too much time on manual tasks, and they had thousands of sites to monitor.
“We started by prioritizing our work through an analysis of what each process cost, what each person was doing, and why it cost that most,” says Elyse Neumann, PhishLabs’ Senior Director of Security Operations. “We ranked which was the highest priority and what could be automated the fastest to help clients and team members alike.
By adding security automation, they were able to close hundreds of incidents automatically every week. They got a lot faster at handling incidents, and they also spent a lot less time on paper, saving 20 hours per week on report generation.
By reducing the time and resources spent on manual processes, automation allows IT teams to focus on more strategic initiatives. This increased efficiency not only enhances productivity but also strengthens the security of the organization. And it makes complex processes much simpler.
How security automation mitigates and reduces risks
The finer details of security automation for IBM Power Systems are just as important as the overall strategy. Here are the specifics behind cybersecurity automation for IBM Power to get you started.
Patch management
Automating patch management means your systems are always up-to-date, which is vital for cybersecurity. Many patches fix newly discovered vulnerabilities. As Steve Ranger writes for ZDNET, one in three breaches are caused by unpatched vulnerabilities, and automated patch management through tools like HCL BigFix ensures that hackers can’t find an easy way into your network.
Automated user/privileged access controls
Automating user provisioning and access controls makes it easy to enforce security policies and reduces the risk of unauthorized access to sensitive data. This includes having presets that give different levels of access depending on the employee’s role within the business and automatically deleting inactive users.
Intrusion monitoring
Automated intrusion monitoring is like a guard dog at your data’s gate. It constantly scans for threats and can alert you in real time if it finds anything out of the ordinary. Intrusion monitoring is an AI-driven approach to security automation that drastically reduces the time it takes to address a data breach.
Automated backups
Automated backups keep your data safe from security breaches. Even in the worst-case scenario, your backups will come to the rescue.
This becomes even more seamless and safe when you leverage cloud hosting services as another line of defense. CloudFirst’s ezVault cloud backup for IBM i and AIX is simple to manage and automatically replicates backups across multiple data centers.
Business continuity
Business continuity is always important, especially when dealing with cyber threats. Cybersecurity automation for IBM AIX and other Power Systems means you can operate unimpeded in the face of adversity. No matter what happens, you’ll rest easy knowing that everything will be okay.
Ignoring security automation creates an alternate timeline
Deciding not to invest in security automation could be one of the most expensive mistakes you ever make.
And inaction won’t just cost you money either. The 2021 Log4j vulnerability with IBM Power Systems proves that companies without a plan lose time, money, and, worst of all, the trust of their clients.
The damage done by Log4j (or Log4Shell) is ongoing. According to IBM, “Log4Shell was patched shortly after discovery but will pose a risk for years, because Log4J is deeply embedded in the software supply chain. The US Department of Homeland Security estimates it takes at least a decade to find and fix every vulnerable instance.”
Patches were rolled out to address the breach, but the first patch “allowed hackers to send malicious commands to logs with certain non-default settings.” So Apache released a second patch. But this one still didn’t get it entirely right, allowing hackers to use DoS attacks.
It took four total patches to tie up all the loose ends. Now, imagine that you didn’t have automated patch management. What if your IT team had only applied the first two patches? What if you managed to update all the patches, but the fourth and final one was installed too late?
Hackers are already automating their processes to try to stay one step ahead of you. You need to fight automation with automation in order to keep your business safe.
Invest in protection; don’t scramble for damage control
Hackers aren’t playing fair. But you don’t have the option of not playing the game; the only thing you can do is invest in the safety of your business. Protecting your data with cybersecurity automation for IBM Power Systems is an investment in winning the race against the clock—a race you often don’t even know you’re competing in until it’s too late.
Don’t wait and become a statistic. Build the protection your business needs right now. Get started by engaging a team that knows cybersecurity automation and has deep expertise in securing IBM Power Systems.
