Niall Ashley
Security Consultant - Vertali
Bromsgrove, United Kingdom
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Niall is a driven individual with a demonstrative experience working across a multitude of different environments including:
→ Mainframe Security Consulting
→ Aeronautical Engineering
→ Software Development
Endeavouring to excellence, he has become skilled in a diverse range of applications/roles, including:
CAD software, Word Processors, Spreadsheets, Web-Design, Cryptography, Education & Teaching, Public Speaking and Presenting.
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Careers can be chaos: Embrace it
School -> RAF -> EA Games -> Airbus -> BMC Software -> Vertali Ltd
Not everyone takes a direct-route to their dream career. Sometimes your journey will have layovers, and can’t be measured ‘as the crow flies’.
Now working as a Mainframe Security Consultant, Niall Ashley breaks down his career journey with transparency and humility.
Turbulence doesn’t have to slow your velocity, and chaos doesn’t have to stop you from reaching success, as this session aims to evidence.
No more BS about Job Applications
Let’s cut the Business Subterfuge (BS) about job applications…
- If you apply for a dozen jobs, what is the likelihood of getting an offer?
The experience of ‘job applications’ is tedious and time-consuming, nobody should dispute that, but what other fictions can we illuminate and bring into reality?
If you want to feel aware of the job-application experience, then this session states the facts and statistics that you need to know.
Neurodiversity and the Mainframe
Despite 77% of unemployed autistic adults stating that they want to work, only 32% of autistic adults are in paid work.
What can our industry do support people with atypical learning styles or social behaviours?
Neurodiversity is not as uncommon as people think and there are strengths to be found when we allow staff to embrace their difference.
This session will explore the challenges that may be faced, but also celebrate the support that good colleagues and a healthy culture can provide.
Newbie Mainframers Talk Candidly
Join us for a 'fireside chat' about New-to-IBM-Z talent and their perspectives!
Inspired by the "New Mainframers Talk Candidly" sessions that Earl Dixon Jr has delivered in the past, this session is intended to be a casual and friendly panel that covers some hot topics!
Feel free to ask questions and talk in the chat!
Rolling with RNG for RACF Remediation 🎲
Egad! A team is only as good as the sum of its parts, and a system is only as secure as its most exploitable vulnerability.
Any weakness within a mainframe mechanism could spell disaster if a ethereal threat is able to leverage it.
Thus, any effective Security Engineering team need verily to know how to mitigate and remediate as many of these weaknesses as possible, lest doom befall their z17.
Thine own audience mayhaps be thinking "Prithee Niall, tell us of your frith duties and of yonder chinks in thy digitised armour" and I think thee is entitled to such a merry tale.
(This session is themed around D&D / Medieval Fantasy, and uses RNG to pull a random security vulnerability, which I will explain in a digestible format, before touching upon the countermeasures that can alleviate it)
Security is a War Game 🪖
Mainframe Security can be visualised as a war game: Every push and pull can influence victory or defeat.
Analysing how security and military practices coalesce, we can see that each cyber attack must met with bullet-proof defensive strategies at every level:
These strategies can be categorised into Education, Authentication, Networks, Data Protection, Privilege Escalation and Surveillance.
Whether you’re defending financial data or mission-critical workloads, this session educates equips you with the tactical insight and defensive manoeuvres to stay one move ahead of any adversary. 🎖️
There are even some foundational RACF commands that can aid in suppressing offensive efforts.
In the world of mainframe security, the game is ever in motion:
The battle could be won, but the war doesn't end...
An IBM Champion’s Guide to Advocacy 💡
What's a guy gotta do to become an IBM Champion around here?
Well sometimes, it's not about what you know, but about who you know. And in this particular case, it's actually about both.
At first glance, becoming an IBM Champion can seem like a convoluted and arduous process.
However, it’s actually not too hard when you know what to do, and the optimal way to do it!
This session will explain what acts of advocacy you can undertake to work towards IBM Champion status, and all the related foibles
Cover your A$$ and implement that Security 🛡️
According to IBM’s annual “Cost of a Data Breach Report ”, conducted in collaboration with the Ponemon Institute, the prevalence of data breaches, along with their associated cost, continues to rise year-on-year.
These data breaches are absolutely preventable if the right practices and policies are put in-place.
So what simple steps can your organisation take to mitigate the risks and stay vigilant when Hackers attempt a breach?
- Attend this session to find out!
This presentation covers the most important cybersecurity principles as well as a number of RACF commands and zSecure products that you will want to become familiar with if you ever engage in IBM Z Security Administration.
The Hacker Whodunnit: Know your cyber assailants 🔎
Security is a major concern: After all, where valuable data can be found, hackers will try to investigate, infiltrate, extract, and extort said data.
This session imagines that a z16 system was attacked, and a number of suspected assailants are brought in for a police line-up, where the audience have to work with the ‘detective’ (presenter) to solve this “Hacking Whodunnit”.
Different hackers may break into systems with different motives, not always doing so for malicious reasons, and some threats may be a cliché lone-wolf, while others Advanced Persistent Threats (APTs), so it’s up to us to work out who was responsible for this dastardly crime…
Ultimately, regardless who attempts to hack into our system, we need to be aware and prepared! 🛡️
RACF for Dummies
IBM conduct the “Cost of a Data Breach Report” annually collaboration with the Ponemon Institute.
This report details the prevalence of data breaches, along with their associated cost, continues to rise year-by-year.
These data breaches are absolutely preventable, if the right principles are followed, and if the right policies are put in-place.
This session will touch upon the 'big three' of Security Principles, and some entry-level RACF functions that you can use to improve the fortitude of a zOS Mainframe System.
This session will teach you about:
- Group Tree structures that can help adhere to RBAC
- Revoke/inactive settings that can reinforce Least Privilege
- ICH408I violations in the System Logs
- zSecure Alert and Command Verifier
All this and other buzzwords that will be familiar to any good RACF Administrator.
LinkedIn isn’t just for boomers
While researching some stats about the reality of job-hunting, I kept seeing the same tip for ‘maximising your chance at getting hired’.
That tip, as the title suggests, is about having a profile on the Social Media platform known as LinkedIn.
“Ew, gross, LinkedIn is hideous platform that only 40+ year olds use” or “Ugh, I don’t want to use that website where everyone is brown-nosing their bosses” are typical reaction from many millennials and zoomers, but is that really true?
Spoilers: It doesn’t have to be true. But I won’t spoil more, so come along to find out *why* it’s untrue.
Impostor Syndrome - Are you good enough?
Does your inner critic make you feel like your best isn’t enough, and that people will eventually think of you as a fraud?
Not unlike the Dunning–Kruger effect, Impostor Syndrome may have you under-estimate your own abilities.
Studies suggests that individuals who experience feelings of being an impostor might also struggle with feelings of depression.
Together we can work to alleviate this feeling, and to reach a higher level of self-belief.
Data: What have we got to lose? 💾
We're all aware that security is crucial.
We're all in agreement that we don't want to get hacked.
We're all conscious of the regulations surrounding secure data.
But here's what we aren't all on the same page about: Knowing what our data is worth...
- So what is the tangible value of our data?
This session will encourage our audience to understand the perceived value of data, as well as the fines imposed for its wanton disregard.
Mainframes: A Piece of Cake! 🍰
Baking cakes and operating a mainframe have distinct purposes and processes, but they share some surprising parallels.
Both involve adequate preparation (mise en place), precise instructions, careful attention to detail, and the potential for unexpected outcomes.
While baking a cake requires specific ingredients, measurements, and cooking times, similarly mainframes requires specific software, configurations, and commands.
This session is designed as an introduction to GSUK and an exploration in the similarities between Technology and Baking, while also featuring a little 'afternoon tea' giveaway of cakes! 🍰
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