Alliance LogAgent for IBM i now instantly records critical system events and integrates line-of-business applications with ServiceNow, the leading cloud-based solution for IT systems to instantly record critical system events.

Townsend Security today announced support for integration of IBM i servers and applications with ServiceNow, the leading cloud-based solution for IT system support problem tracking and resolution. Leveraging the ServiceNow REST web interface, Townsend Security’s Alliance LogAgent solution can now instantly record critical system events as ServiceNow Incident reports. Additionally, Alliance LogAgent also exposes an API command to allow IBM i customers the ability to integrate line-of-business applications with ServiceNow. When business applications encounter critical events or errors, these can be immediately visible to the IT administrative and security teams for rapid response and resolution.

“IBM i customers want to leverage the best of the new generation cloud-based service offerings. This new release of Alliance LogAgent gives them that ability right out of the box. Existing ServiceNow customers have all they need to record critical incidents in real time. IBM i users who are not currently ServiceNow customers can rapidly subscribe to ServiceNow and start enjoying the benefits of this leading IT Systems Service Management (ITSSM) solution,” said Patrick Townsend, CEO of Townsend Security.

“The power and stability of the IBM i system can integrate with the best of the cloud-based ITSSM solutions. It’s an easy win for IBM i customers, and those with existing system logging solutions will be happy to know that Alliance LogAgent can co-exist with existing technology, or IBM i customers can take advantage of our competitive upgrade program,” continued Townsend.

New ServiceNow features in Alliance LogAgent include:

Privileged User Access:

Monitoring administrative access to IBM i servers is a critical compliance and security best practice. Alliance LogAgent can identify in real-time the privilege level of a user signing on to the system and report it to ServiceNow and to any SIEM solution. Alliance LogAgent is unique in its ability to dynamically identify the true privilege level of a user by examining the native authority of the user as well as authorities inherited from Group and Supplemental profiles. Cyber criminals often use privilege escalation as a starting point in an attack. Alliance LogAgent can now identify privileged user logons and raise a ServiceNow support incident.

User Profile Disabled:

A common labor-intensive task for IT administrators is managing user accounts that are disabled due to an excessive number of password failures, or which are disabled due to a brute force attack. Alliance LogAgent will now automatically identify disabled user profiles in real-time and create a ServiceNow incident report. This gives the IBM system and security administrator rapid visibility and resolution for disabled profiles. Additional system security is provided by an out-of-band notification via ServiceNow of a potential attack in progress.

File or Object Change:

An attacker often modifies a program or file on the IBM i server as a part of compromising sensitive data. For example, an attacker might modify the IBM i web server configuration file to direct users to malware on infected sites. IBM i customers can now identify both library and IFS objects for monitoring by Alliance LogAgent with reporting directly to ServiceNow. Early detection of modified programs and files can help an IBM i customer avoid a data breach.

Application Integration with ServiceNow:

IBM i developers can now easily integrate business applications and processes with ServiceNow through a new command named Create ServiceNow Incident (CRTSVNINC). By embedding this command into user applications the IBM i developer can provide a wide set of incident creation capabilities. This new command builds on the ServiceNow REST interface without requiring complex communications or API logic in the business application. Using the ServiceNow command does not require the SIEM integration components of Alliance LogAgent. IBM i customers can use just the ServiceNow integration component, or combine its use with Alliance LogAgent SIEM integration.

Alliance LogAgent is licensed on a Logical Partition (LPAR) basis. Both perpetual and subscription licenses are available. Volume discounts are available. Additional charges apply to the ServiceNow application. Alliance LogAgent can be downloaded from the Townsend Security website for a free 30-day trial of the fully functional solution. ServiceNow integration requires a subscription license from ServiceNow. Trial subscriptions are available from their website at http://servicenow.com.