Think security isn’t an important issue for you and your shop? Consider what happened to Barings Bank between 1992 and 1995. Barings Bank was once the world’s oldest merchant bank. Here was a bank that had withstood economic vagaries from as far back as the American Revolution and both world wars. Unfortunately, Barings relied too much on the past, without looking to the future, and it had a hard time adjusting to the new world of electronic commerce and trading. As a result, despite repeated warnings from auditors, proper checks and balances were not put in place. Twenty-eight-year-old Nicholas Leeson, a commodities trader at Barings Bank in Singapore, was allowed unmonitored access to bank funds beginning in 1992. He used those funds for the very risky and hugely complicated practice of derivative trading, ultimately causing Barings Bank to collapse from insolvency in February of 1995. A 233-year-old bank was knocked completely out of existence by one man. This should never have been allowed to happen, and, had proper security practices been in place, never would have.

This month, Midrange Computing takes a look at AS/400 security. We want to give you some of the knowledge you need to keep your shop from experiencing anything even remotely like what happened to Barings Bank. In this series of focus articles, we’re going to fascinate you with fundamentals, astound you with adopted authority, surprise you with security values, tantalize you with the free security tools from IBM, and horrify you with the ways hackers can breach your system. Sound intriguing? Read on.

Ted Holt’s background as an educator shines through this month as he teaches us the basics in “Fundamentals of Security.” For the novice, it’s a great place to start to get an overview of what security on the AS/400 really means. The more-experienced user will walk away from this article with a deeper understanding of AS/400 security and may even learn a thing or two along the way!

If you’ve been on the AS/400 for a while, you’ve probably already come across the term adopted authority. This complex subject can be difficult to understand and implement. Ernie Malaga makes the complex simple in “Object Security by Adoption.” Reading this

article will help you gain the knowledge you need to use this powerful feature of OS/400 security.

There are over a dozen system security values that relate to security, and you have to understand how the value you set for one impacts the others. This can be a mind- boggling puzzle! Fortunately, Tim Johnston clears up the mystery for you in “Password System Security Values Demystified.”

In this article, Tim teaches you what those various security system values are and how you use them.

Daniel Green gives us a look at the free Security Toolkit from IBM in his article “Track System Security with IBM’s Free AS/400 Security Tools.” Daniel will tell you all about these very useful security tools and show you how to install and use them so you can make your AS/400 as secure as possible.

Secure is, however, a relative term. Although your AS/400 is one of the most secure systems in the world, it still has a basic weakness that anyone with the right knowledge can take advantage of. With that in mind, check out my article “Are Your AS/400 Passwords Really Secure?” and I’ll show you how a knowledgeable hacker can penetrate your security. After all, the best padlock in the world does you no good if anyone can use your own personal key to open it.

So, grab a cup of coffee and get comfortable. You’re about to embark on what will probably be the most thought-provoking and interesting journey into AS/400 security you’ve ever been on.