The number of attacks against computer systems is constantly increasing, and this trend doesn't show signs of slowing down. Frequent reports of even the most trusted firms being breeched show that you can’t be too cautious these days. Even the venerable System i could use some help with security, and that's where NetIQ Security Solutions for iSeries comes in.

NetIQ's product aims not only to make it harder to crack into your system, but also make it easier for you to manage multiple servers. Its auditing tools help you track changes to your systems and security violations. Its detection tools constantly monitor your servers for security problems as well as less exotic problems, like disk space shortages. And it works with System i's security to keep your servers safe from suspicious activity.

Manage Privileges

One of the most basic aspects of security is keeping a handle on who can do what to your servers, and NetIQ's product includes Privilege Manager to make it easier to do so. Privilege Manager uses an escalation model so you can give individual users access to specific commands, programs, and files. These granular controls help you meet compliance requirements and let you give fewer accounts the *ALLOBJ authority. You can also audit usage and access failures—the more you know about your servers, the safer they are.

Of course, it's no good to be so secure that the people who use the servers can't get their work done. Privilege Manager lets you schedule one-time or recurring windows where users have access to more sensitive commands to perform tasks like regularly scheduled maintenance without giving access to those commands all the time.

Customization Is Key

Every situation calls for different security responses, and NetIQ provides extensive customizability. You can create custom security checks to protect your specific environment. The iSeries Security Namespace exposes many objects, including message queues, network status, user profiles, and system status for your custom checks.

When you create your own checks you can, for example, establish baselines for certain quantities. Then, if values for your system fall outside the normal values, you're able to figure out what changes have been made to your servers and how you should react. You can incorporate scoring into your security checks so that you can tell how bad a security risk is. And you can select only the system attributes that are important for your reports, so you don't get bogged down in irrelevant details.

If you don't want to create your own security checks or if meeting compliance requirements is your main goal, you can use predefined regulatory compliance templates, including HIPAA, GLBA Access Control, Sarbanes-Oxley, PCI, and FDA.