COMMON POWERUp 2025: Full Schedule

Unlock the Power of IBM i at POWERUp 2025!

Join us in Disneyland, California, for POWERUp 2025, the premier conference for IBM i professionals. Whether you’re an experienced expert or just starting your IBM i journey, this event offers unparalleled education, hands-on workshops, and valuable networking opportunities. Stay ahead of the curve with insights from industry leaders, explore the latest innovations, and connect with a thriving community that shares your passion for IBM i. Don’t miss this opportunity to expand your knowledge, grow your skills, and power up your career!

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8:00am PDT

A Practical Guide to IBM i Authority Collection

Thursday May 22, 2025 8:00am - 9:00am PDT

Safari

This session explores practical applications for Authority Collection, including standard and creative use cases. Authority Collection can be used to reduce the security exposure of privileged user profiles and to lock down objects/libraries/IFS. We will cover these in detail, along with some “outside the box” ways of using this technology to answer questions and solve problems.

Speakers

Carol Woodbury

IBM i Security SME and Senior Advisor, Kisco Systems

With over 30 years' experience in the area of IT security, Carol is known world-wide as an expert in the area of computer security. During her career, Carol has architected security solutions for Fortune 100 companies as well as small and medium-sized organizations. Carol is passionate... Read More →

Steve Riedmueller

Certified IBM i Admin - IBM Champion, Speaker, Mentor, and Advocate, Kisco

Thursday May 22, 2025 8:00am - 9:00am PDT
Safari 1150 Magic Way, Anaheim, CA 92802

Security

8:00am PDT

IBM i Security Best Practices

Thursday May 22, 2025 8:00am - 10:15am PDT

Adventure

While the IBM i is an extremely secure system, there are still a variety of attack vectors that can result from administrative mistakes that can cause a breach. In this session, we will review many of the common issues and configuration errors we have seen time and again with our IBM i customers. If you are a system administrator or security officer, this session is a must attend!

Speakers

Robert Andrews

Principal Security Consultant, IBM

Robert Andrews is a Principal Security Consultant, Senior Technical Staff Member (STSM), and Team Lead for the IBM i Security and Authentication Technology Expert Labs team in Rochester, MN. An IBM Certified Thought Leader and The Open Group Distinguished Technical Specialist, Robert... Read More →

Thursday May 22, 2025 8:00am - 10:15am PDT
Adventure 1150 Magic Way, Anaheim, CA 92802

Security

9:15am PDT

Dive Deep into IBM i Security Internals

Thursday May 22, 2025 9:15am - 10:15am PDT

Magic Ballroom 4

As only one who's seen (and written!) IBM i OS code can do, Carol Woodbury takes you deep into the internal workings of IBM i Security. Topics of discussion include where and how authority is checked, how security settings affect performance, why and when to use some of the obscure security-related system values such as QUSEADPAUT, a discussion of some of the more hidden features such as validation lists and more.

Speakers

Carol Woodbury

IBM i Security SME and Senior Advisor, Kisco Systems

Thursday May 22, 2025 9:15am - 10:15am PDT
Magic Ballroom 4 1150 Magic Way, Anaheim, CA 92802

Security

11:15am PDT

TLS for ACS and Navigator

Thursday May 22, 2025 11:15am - 12:15pm PDT

Adventure

The use of encrypted sessions is both an effective way to prevent credential theft, as well as a requirement for numerous laws and regulations.
In this session, you will see how to configure the replacement for Client Access—Access Client Solutions—to use an encrypted (TLS) session.
This session will include an example of using your IBM i as a CA (Certificate Authority). You’ll also see an example of creating a request to send to a well-known CA to create the digital certificate you’ll need to assign to the servers to enable encrypted communications.
Demonstration of securing Navigator for i using a self-signed certificate.

Speakers

Amy Williams

Principal Security Services Consultant, Fortra LLC

Amy Williams is a Senior Security Services Consultant who joined Fortra in 2015. She holds CISSP, CISA, and PCI-P certifications.Amy has worked on the IBM i platform for nearly 30 years and her experience includes application testing, system installation, system administration, and... Read More →

Thursday May 22, 2025 11:15am - 12:15pm PDT
Adventure 1150 Magic Way, Anaheim, CA 92802

Security

1:30pm PDT

Disk-level encryption isn’t enough

Thursday May 22, 2025 1:30pm - 2:30pm PDT

Adventure

As companies look to leverage encryption as part of their security landscape, it can be tempting to just implement disk-level encryption. As security requirements continue to grow and compliance regulations are taken into account for the IBM i environment, administrators are finding they need to implement encryption at the field level versus disk level encryption.

Speakers

Bill Hammond

Thursday May 22, 2025 1:30pm - 2:30pm PDT
Adventure 1150 Magic Way, Anaheim, CA 92802

Security

1:30pm PDT

IBM i Authentication Exit Point Deep Dive

Thursday May 22, 2025 1:30pm - 2:30pm PDT

South Ballroom A

The integrated IBM i MFA solution includes a new single authentication exit point hook. The exit point allows administrators and security software vendors the opportunity to implement tailored solutions that go beyond the basic TOTP solution offered by the operating system. We will discuss when the exit program is called and the information it provides.

Learning Objectives:
Learn information required to write an exit program that leverages the exit program. Learn how to configure the system and users to leverage the authentication exit point support.

Speakers

Tim Mullenbach

IBM i Security Business Architect, IBM

Tim Mullenbach is a Senior Software Engineer at IBM Rochester. He spent his first 20+ IBM years with the IBM i Sockets and System TLS development team prior to transitioning to the IBM i Security Business Architect role in 2018.

Thursday May 22, 2025 1:30pm - 2:30pm PDT
South Ballroom A 1150 Magic Way, Anaheim, CA 92802

Security

3:30pm PDT

Moving to a Higher Level: Password Resilience

Thursday May 22, 2025 3:30pm - 4:30pm PDT

Adventure

Have you thought about the passwords you use on your systems? What rules or restrictions do you have in place? But more importantly, why?! Have you ever thought about what those rules actually do to your passwords? Do you think they are making you more secure or less secure? In this presentation, we will cover passwords in depth, in theory, and specific to IBM i. Can your IBM i password be hacked? Come and find out at this inquisitive session! COMMON Bronze medal session.

Speakers

Robert Andrews

Principal Security Consultant, IBM

Thursday May 22, 2025 3:30pm - 4:30pm PDT
Adventure 1150 Magic Way, Anaheim, CA 92802

Security