Category Archives: WMQ Security

WebSphere MQ Security-related posts.

When deprecated != deprecated

Posted on January 19, 2018 by T.Rob

Every now and then we hear that a cipher algorithm has fallen to a new cracking technique. This cascades into a new round of deprecating any ciphersuites that rely on the newly cracked algorithms.  Over the years we’ve moved from … Continue reading →

Posted in IBMMQ, Security, WMQ Security | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , | 3 Comments

Inaccurate MQ auths event messages

Posted on November 1, 2016 by T.Rob

The security maturity progression in MQ starts with access control.  First we isolate MQ Admin access, then add granular user and application access.  This class of security control is known as intrusion prevention.  After mastering that the next phase includes … Continue reading →

Posted in IBMMQ, News, Security, WMQ Security | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

MQ Password/CHLAUTH research – Exec Summary

Posted on October 25, 2016 by T.Rob

As of v8.0, MQ now can natively validate user IDs by checking the password against the Operating System or LDAP.  Checking against Pluggable Authentication Module (PAM) was added in v8.0.0.4.  Prior to v8.0 it was necessary to use a channel … Continue reading →

Posted in IBMMQ, Security, WMQ Security | Tagged , , , , , | 9 Comments

News and updates

Posted on July 14, 2016 by T.Rob

This is a quick note to tell folks a bit about my virtual absence of late, current events and plans for what’s coming up. Whatever happened to… I’m not exactly a candidate for VH1’s Where Are They Now but I … Continue reading →

Posted in Events, IBMMQ, News, Security, WMQ Security | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

MQTC Sessions and downloads posted

Posted on September 28, 2015 by T.Rob

My sessions and downloadable scripts from MQTC 2.0.15 are now up on the Links page.

Posted in Events, IBMMQ, MQTC, News, Security, WMQ Security | Tagged , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Time for MQ to get serious about instrumentation and admin. Again.

Posted on September 18, 2015 by T.Rob

Outstanding RFEs and feature requests have been a hot topic on the MQ list server of late.  Looking at the RFEs that have been posted and discussed, there’s a general architectural requirement many of them seem to have in common: … Continue reading →

Posted in Events, IBMMQ, IIB, News, Security, WMQ Security | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | 3 Comments

Zero to SSL in under 5 Minutes

Posted on July 7, 2015 by T.Rob

A viewer of the Zero to Hello World video recently challenged me to do a similar video for SSL. Challenge accepted!

Posted in IBMMQ, Security, WMQ Security | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

IBM MQ Security Requirements Questionnaire

Posted on June 9, 2015 by T.Rob

Over the years I have often been asked for security templates and other canned assets to help make MQ security planning, implementation, and operation easier. These often become the source material for conference presentations, articles and videos.  Some of these … Continue reading →

Posted in IBMMQ, Security, WMQ Security | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Managing CA-signed certificates

Posted on March 12, 2015 by T.Rob

MQ Admins are getting serious about TLS channels these days, but it isn’t always easy because there’s a fairly steep learning curve.  Though there is plenty of documentation for the MQ aspects, and for X.509 and TLS itself, very little … Continue reading →

Posted in IBMMQ, Security, WMQ Security | Tagged , , , , , , , | 10 Comments

MQ V8 Certification

Posted on January 28, 2015 by T.Rob

Would it surprise you to know there’s an MQ V8 System Administration certification?  Normally I run down and take the test as soon as it’s available but this one has been out since January 14th and somehow I missed the … Continue reading →

Posted in IBMMQ, MQ AMS, MQMFT, News, Security, WMQ ESE, WMQ Security | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 24 Comments