Internal threats are more possible than not.
Editor's Note: This article introduces the white paper "The State of IBM i Security 2013."
A star employee sits in her office, curled over her keyboard. It's after 5:00, but she's still here. Coworkers assume a promotion is in the works and admire her loyalty, but she's got different motives. She types a few characters and hits Enter. No luck. Undeterred, she tries a different combination of letters. Nothing…yet. The question isn't when will she gain access to sensitive IBM i data, the question is will the security team catch her in time?
A breach like this might seem farfetched in the real world—where Power Systems servers running IBM i maintain a solid reputation for impenetrable security. But the data from the 2013 State of IBM i Security Study proves these internal threats more possible than not.
The face of the cybercriminal is changing, and any number of improper security controls—allowing default passwords, not limiting sign-on attempts, keeping inactive profiles—could make breach attempts successful.
While IBM i is one of the most securable servers, the prevailing use of incorrect or lax configuration settings leaves it vulnerable to threats.
Even if you would personally vouch for the integrity of your staff, remember that SOX, PCI, and other regulatory compliance auditors aren't asking, "Would they?" or "Might they?" but "Do they have the ability to?"
The annual State of IBM i Security study strives to help executives, IT managers, system admins, and auditors understand the important IBM i security exposures and compliance violations and how to correct them in the most efficient and economical way.
Why This Study Is Important
This year marks the 25th birthday of the AS/400, as well as the 10th anniversary of the State of IBM i Security study. From the AS/400 to iSeries, System i, and finally Power Systems running IBM i, PowerTech has followed the evolution and provided invaluable security insight from more than 1,700 servers worldwide.
The results from the 2013 study, and the universal nature of IBM i vulnerabilities, lead us to conclude that if you have IBM i systems in your data center, your organization might suffer from similar internal control deficiencies.
What This Study Means for You
Your IBM i server likely runs your mission-critical business applications—and has for 20 years or more—but the staff that set up server security may be long gone.
To complicate things, the integrated nature of many IBM i security controls has caused confusion over who is responsible for the configuration—IBM, the customer, or the application provider. As such, many systems operate with default settings due to lack of ownership.
You know an IBM i audit is long overdue, but you're too busy grappling with:
- Knowledge gaps
- Overextended staff
- Lean IT budgets
Too often, IBM i security projects take a backseat to Windows and UNIX platforms because of the perception that IBM i is less vulnerable. Consequently, as the threat landscape looms ever greater, the administration of IBM i security controls has lapsed and guards are down.
Now here's the good news: The weaknesses identified through our assessments and documented in this study are caused by poor or missing configurations that can—and should—be corrected.
This study shows you the most common and dangerous IBM i security exposures; outlines how to correct them; and explains how these relate to compliance legislation, industry regulations, and IT guidelines and best practices.
The Power Systems Landscape
IBM introduced the AS/400 in 1988 as its computing system for small- and medium-sized companies. Today, the Power Systems product line ranges from small servers with a single processor to the Power 780 server, which can have up to 16 POWER7+ processors with four cores each.
The IBM i community includes a large and loyal base throughout the world—with more than 380,000 systems estimated in production use. The PowerTech data was collected from a cross-section of systems of varying sizes.
Companies in retail, financial, manufacturing, and distribution industries typically purchased their Power Systems server as part of an integrated business system. Today, more than 16,000 banks run their core banking and financial applications on an IBM i server. Many retailers use financial applications that store credit card data on the system. Some of the well-known software vendors that provide applications are:
- Oracle (JD Edwards ERP)
- Lawson/Intentia (Financials)
- FISERVE
- SAP
- IBM Domino
- IBM WebSphere
- Jack Henry (Core Banking)
- INFOR (BPICS, MAPICS, Infinium, Infor ERP XA applications, PRISM)
- Manhattan Associates (Supply chain)
Given the mission-critical data stored on these systems, maintaining a secure configuration should be a top priority.
More than ever, there is a demand for IT to deliver innovation. Your IBM i has been an essential part of your business operations for years. However, your organization may struggle to maintain the current system and implement new projects. The thousands of customers we've worked with and surveyed state that expectations regarding the digital footprint and vision of the company are not aligned with the current IT environment.
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