Cybersecurity Mesh: The Future Of Network Defense

Gone are the days when firewalls and antivirus softwares were essentially all we needed to keep our computers safe. With more advanced technology comes more advanced threats. So, what does the cybersecurity industry have in store? The answer: cybersecuirty mesh. Anshu Bansal, Forbes Council Member and founder/CEO of CloudDefense.AI shares the newest concept of cybersecurity mesh and it’s future in network defense.

 

What Is Cybersecurity Mesh?
A concept curated by Gartner, cybersecurity mesh is all about ditching the old “castle wall” mentality and creating a flexible, scalable security perimeter around each access point. Instead of trying to protect one extensive network, we’re securing each device, user, and connection individually. Bansal compares it to instead of having one big lock on your front door, you’re putting smart locks on every door, window, and access point in your house and each lock knows who should be allowed in and can make decisions on its own. This means deploying security tools that can communicate with each other, share threat intelligence, and make decisions based on context. One great advantage of this approach is that it doesn’t matter where your data is – in the cloud, on-premises, or accessed from handheld devices. Additionally, security follows the data and the user. Some other key benefits include a stronger defense, faster threat response, improved scalability, simplified management, flexibility and context-aware decisions.

 

Implementing Cybersecurity Mesh
Bansal provides a practical guide below to get you going:

  • Assess Your Current Setup: First, take a good look at what you’ve got. What devices are connected to your network? What security measures are already in place? This inventory will help you figure out where you need to focus.
  • Define Your Security Perimeter: Identify the boundaries of your network, including all your devices, cloud services, and access points. Remember, with remote work, your perimeter extends beyond the office walls.
  • Choose And Integrate Your Tools: You’ll need a mix of security tools that work together. These might include firewalls, intrusion detection systems, identity management solutions and cloud security posture management tools. Look for tools that can easily integrate with each other.
  • Implement Zero Trust: Zero trust is a key principle of cybersecurity mesh. It means verifying every user and device every time they try to access your network. Start by setting up strong authentication methods.
  • Set Up Monitoring: You need to keep an eye on what’s happening across your network. Implement tools that give you real-time visibility into user activities, data movement, and potential threats.
  • Train Your Team: Your staff are a crucial part of your security. Make sure they understand the new system and their role in keeping things secure. Regular training sessions can help keep everyone up to speed.
  • Start Small And Scale: Don’t try to overhaul everything at once. Pick a small area of your network to start with, then gradually expand your mesh as you get more comfortable with the system.
  • Monitor And Respond: Keep a close eye on your mesh. Set up alerts for suspicious activity and have a clear response plan in place.

 

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Infor Lawson for Mingle – How do I migrate Custom Design Studio forms to my current LSF version?

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Issue: I possess Design Studio forms from the previous version of Lawson System Foundation (LSF) and Infor Lawson for Ming.le. How can I ensure their compatibility with my current LSF and Infor Lawson for Ming.le environment?

 

Solution: A Migrate Tool has been provided, starting from specific LSF versions and patches onwards:

 

– LSF 10.0.4, JT-651295, PORTAL.DIR/utility/upgradeCustomContent.htm version 10.0.4.0.747 minimum

– LSF 10.0.5, JT-651295, PORTAL.DIR/utility/upgradeCustomContent.htm version 10.0.5.0.746 minimum

– LSF 10.0.6, JT-651295, PORTAL.DIR/utility/upgradeCustomContent.htm version 10.0.6.0.745 minimum

– Included in the base release for LSF 10.0.7 and newer versions

 

Steps to follow in LSF 10.0.4, 10.0.5, and 10.0.6 with the specified patches, as well as in the delivered release of LSF 10.0.7 and above:

 

To review the existing Design Studio forms:

  1. Log in to Infor Lawson for Ming.le with a Portal Administrator account.
  2. Navigate to Custom Content Tools.
  3. Select Migrate Custom Content.
  4. Choose Analyze | Custom Forms.

 

To update the existing Design Studio forms:

  1. Log in to Infor Lawson for Ming.le with a Portal Administrator account.
  2. Navigate to Custom Content Tools.
  3. Select Migrate Custom Content.
  4. Choose Migrate | Custom Forms.

 

Please note:

This process won’t alter the “XMLGenBy=”xscrgen 10.0.7.0.1240 2016-03-09 08:32:37″” listed in the XML of the Design Studio form. Instead, it will append this tag to the first line: dateupgrade=”1443633109897″. To ascertain the date of the upgrade, visit https://currentmillis.com/ and input the associated value.

 

To review the current Design Studio forms with custom JavaScript:

  1. Log in to Infor Lawson for Ming.le with a Portal Administrator account.
  2. Navigate to Custom Content Tools.
  3. Select Migrate Custom Content.
  4. Choose Analyze | Custom Script.

 

Please note:

There isn’t a migration process for Custom Script. This requires manual handling based on the information from the Analyze step.

Infor’s recent acquisitions place importance on data-driven decision-making

Recently, Infor announced a pair of acquisitions of data-migration partner Albanero and CPG consulting expert Acumen. Shána Briddock, Associate Editor at ERP Today, shares an article of Infor’s data-driven decision making to help with their data capabilities. Briddock notes, “Aligned with last year’s bi-annual release cycle for customer agility, Infor included enhancements in ESG reporting and Infor GenAI, especially aimed at leveraging industry-specific data for improved decision-making.” Additionally, with all these acquisitions, Infor is enhancing its data migration, management and analytics capabilities, keeping them on track with its biggest competitors. Their goal is to take advantage of a robust data foundation for its cloud solutions. Infor CEO Kevin Samuelson notes of their strategic alliances, “Infor’s strategy remains fiercely focused on helping customers unlock core value drivers within their industry-specific operations. The next wave of innovation is completely data-driven and generating real value from it begins with a secure industry-rich data foundation.”

 

For Full Article, Click Here

Building enduring alliances, Infor focuses on selective partnerships

IT writer Sok Yee Tham shares an exclusive interview on Channel Asia with Infor’s senior vice president and general manager of Asia Pacific and Japan (APJ), Terry Smagh, relayed his focus on establishing “longevity” with partners by identifying commonalities and how they complement each other. Tham shares how Infor aims for long-term, strategic collaborations to ensure effective partner management and that partners have sufficient market share for success. According to Smagh, Infor has traditionally leveraged channel partners in ASEAN, and the partner network is one of Infor’s “most established” network in Asia Pacific when compared to other regions. Smagh notes in the interview the tech giant’s strategies with their channel partners, “Although Infor’s ASEAN strategy has been tapping on these partnerships, the company recognizes it may be “jaded”. However, Smagh assured that the company is “changing and evolving”. He outlined that Infor’s strategy involves considering how to engage with partners and make them successful, highlighting a collaborative approach in their partner strategy.” Additionally, Smagh comments that he finds partners complementary and integral to Infor’s business. He aims to do so by providing support, engagement, education and funding to partners. Furthermore, Infor plans to launch their global partner program in the first quarter of 2025.

 

For Full Article, Click Here

Batch Status Descriptions

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Below is a cheat sheet for batch status numbers & their descriptions:

There are several use cases for querying the QUEUEDJOB table in GEN in order to get batch job details, such as status and run times.  The status is stored as a numeric value, not the actual status that is seen in the GUI. It can also be useful to be able to map it to the description.  Here are the batch job status numbers with their descriptions:

# 0 – Running
# 30 – Waiting
# 31 – Waiting Step
# 32 – Waiting On Time
# 33 – Waiting Recovery
# 34 – Needs Recovery
# 35 – Invalid Parameters
# 36 – Queue Inactive
# 37 – On Hold
# 60 – Recurring Skipped
# 61 – Recovery Deleted
# 62 – Cancelled
# 63 – Normal Completion

 

Explaining the largest IT outage in history and what’s next

By now everyone knows the massive IT outage that occurred at the end of the last week caused by a CrowdStrike update that crashed millions of Windows systems.  While not a ransomware or cyber attack, critical services and business operations were hugely disrupted. The outage, that occurred on July 19th, caused many windows systems failing and revealing the infamous blue screen of death (BSOD). Not only were services and operations impacted, but it also opened our eyes to the vulnerabilities businesses can endure. IT expert Sean Michael Kerner shares an article on TechTarget explaining the outage, the businesses affected, and recovery times for businesses to get “back to normal”.

What caused the outage? The CrowdStrike Falcon platform was the main culprit. Widely used by organizations big and small using Microsoft Windows, the the flaw in CrowdStrike Falcon was inside of a sensor configuration update. With channel file 291, CrowdStrike inadvertently introduced a logic error, causing the Falcon sensor to crash and, subsequently, Windows systems in which it was integrated.

What services were affected? Microsoft estimated that approximately 8.5 million Windows devices were directly affected by the CrowdStrike logic error flaw. That’s less than 1% of Microsoft’s global Windows install base. Kerner lists the following services affected by this outage:

Airlines and airports – This outage caused grounded flights and significant delay and cancellations around the world.

Public transit – Public transit in multiple cities was affected in major US cities and globally.

Healthcare – Hospitals and healthcare clinics around the world faced significant disruptions in appointment systems, leading to delays and cancellations.

Financial services – Multiple payment platforms were directly affected, and there were individuals who did not get their paychecks when expected.

Media and broadcasting – Multiple media and broadcast outlets around the world, including British broadcaster Sky News, were taken off the air by the outage.

How long will it take businesses to recover from this outage? CrowdStrike was able to identify and deploy a fix for the issue in 79 minutes. Despite immediately finding and deploying  a fix for the issue, the recovery process for businesses is complex and time-consuming. Kerner notes that among the issues is that, once the problematic update was installed, the underlying Windows OS would trigger BSOD, rendering the system inoperative using the normal boot process. “Some businesses were able to apply the fix within a few days. However, the process was not straightforward for all, particularly those with extensive IT infrastructure and encrypted drives. The use of the Microsoft Windows BitLocker encryption technology by some organizations made it significantly more time-consuming to recover as BitLocker recovery keys were required.” It could potentially take months for some organizations to entirely recover all affected systems from the outage.
How can businesses be better prepared for tech outages?
While it wasn’t a cyberattack, the CrowdStrike Windows outage highlighted the vulnerabilities of society’s heavy reliance on technology. Kerner shares a few tips that businesses can do to be better prepared for tech outages, including the following.

Test all updates before deploying to production. “It has been a best practice for years to allow automated updates to ensure systems are always up to date. However, the CrowdStrike issue laid bare the underlying risk with that approach. For mission-critical systems, testing updates before deployment or having some form of staging environment before pushing updates to production might help to mitigate some risk.”

Develop and document manual workarounds. “Manual workarounds ensure critical business processes can continue even when technology fails. This approach was common before the digital age and, in the event of outage, can serve as a fallback. Documenting and practicing manual procedures can help mitigate the effect of outages, ensuring businesses can still operate and serve their customers, even during an outage.”

Perform disaster recovery and business continuity planning. “Outages happen for any number of different reasons. Having extensive disaster recovery and business continuity practices and plans in place is critical. Part of that effort should include the use of redundant systems and infrastructure to minimize downtime and ensure critical functions can switch to backup systems when needed.”

 

For Full Article, Click Here

AP195 Issue Cannot close period

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Jobs is in needs recovery with error

tsStoreDBRec error is Record was modified or deleted since your retrieval (131). Additional information is 100. Additional Text is: ModifySqlRec

There are 3 bad invoices in APINVOICE and APPAYMENT with no distribution records in APDISTRIB.

The 3 bad records are as follows

 

Resolution:

In SQL Manger, query the APINVOICE and APPAYMENT files for any invoices with bad name format as below:

Verify these records do not have any distributions records in APDISTRIB. If not, Delete these bad invoices.

APPAYMENT

APINVOICE

Run commit to commit the changes

Go into lawson and recover the job

Keywords:

 

 

The Impact Of Modern ERP And SCM Systems In Manufacturing

Two essential tools important to the manufacturing industry for decades are enterprise resource planning (ERP) and supply chain management (SCM). ERP and SCM provide visibility into production, scheduling, inventory, quality control, forecasting, shipping and logistics management and more. Robert Kramer, VP & Principal Analyst at Moor Insights & Strategy, shares an article on Forbes that explores recent developments in ERP and SCM—including automation, security, artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML), smart factories and more—and the impacts these have on manufacturers amid the revolutions underway in data and AI. By combining advanced automation, he states, AI and other innovations such as smart factories with human skills and ingenuity, modern ERP and SCM systems can help organizations optimize production, improve efficiency and create a more responsive and sustainable manufacturing environment.

 

Effects Of ERP And SCM On Manufacturers

Kramers states that modern ERP and SCM systems centralize, govern, secure, analyze and utilize data across all operational aspects of an enterprise – all things that are fundamental to any manufacturer’s success, in both tactical and strategic dimensions. Tactically, ERP and SCM systems enhance operational efficiency. Strategically, ERP and SCM systems unify business information to enable a complete view of operations. Bellow are snippets of Kramer’s reports on the impact ERP and SCM have in the manufacturing space.

Data Management And AI Essentials.  “AI and machine learning can significantly enhance ERP and SCM systems in manufacturing by improving production control, inventory management and other functions. AI automates routine tasks and enhances processes such as scheduling and maintenance. ML adds value by predicting equipment failures, minimizing downtime and maintenance costs and generating accurate demand forecasts.”

Influence Of Industry 4.0 And 5.0. “Industry 4.0 focuses on automation and connected enterprises (including smart factories) to optimize production, improve operations and enhance product quality. It does this by integrating digital technologies such as IoT, AI and advanced robotics. Industry 5.0 emphasizes collaboration between humans and machines to create personalized and sustainable production processes. This approach seeks to balance technological advancements with human and environmental considerations.”

Smart-Factory Technology Impacts Manufacturing. “When considering modern ERP and SCM systems for manufacturers, the concept of the smart factory often plays a role. A smart factory is a digitized and connected production facility that leverages advanced technologies such as IoT sensors, AI, machine learning, robotics, analytics and cloud computing to optimize manufacturing processes. The goal is to enhance efficiency, flexibility and productivity through real-time monitoring, automation and the other capabilities of these advanced technologies. By integrating smart-factory principles with modern ERP and SCM systems, organizations can further improve operations and product quality while reducing costs.”

Manufacturing, like any industry, continues to evolve to meet changing market demands, This makes modern ERP and SCM systems crucial for global operations and supply chain management. As Kramer discussed, these systems integrate advanced technologies such as AI, machine learning, IoT, automation and smart factories. He notes that cloud-based solutions can provide a unified system with flexibility and scalability, offering benefits such as accessibility, rapid deployment, improved performance and centralized data security.

 

For Full Article, Click Here

Why Hotels Should Master the Fundamentals of Guest Experience Before Adding the Bells and Whistles

NBA legend Michael Jordan famously said, “You can practice shooting eight hours a day, but if your technique is wrong, then all you become is very good at shooting the wrong way. Get the fundamentals down, and the level of everything you do will rise.” The same can be said for the hospitality industry. At least it is what Joe Vargas, SVP & General Manager, Infor Hospitality believes as he shares an article on HospitalityNet.org about mastering the fundamentals of guest experience. We live in a technologically inspired world and innovation is present in our daily lives. In hospitality, innovative features have the potential to undoubtedly elevate guest experiences. However, Vargas says that hotel executives aiming to close the experience gap must first lay a strong foundation by perfecting core operations. Concentrating on essential elements ensures guest satisfaction and creates a stable infrastructure that supports further technological enhancements. For example, your hotel’s website must balance the traditional guest booking experience before you add flashy bells and whistles. “When it comes to frictionless service,” Vargas notes, “people often recognize the link between technology and guest experience only when tech fails, is slow, or disrupts the process. Guests look for elegantly designed, user-friendly websites, booking engines, and mobile apps, with automation simplifying the check-in process. But, these elements must be supported by technology to ensure speed, convenience, and adequately timed information to enhance the experience.”

 

Bridging the guest experience gap
When it comes to guest experiences, the margin for error is  very thin. On the other hand, Vargas says that meeting or exceeding guest expectations brings measurable business benefits, and the guest experience gap presents a golden opportunity. By bridging this gap, where technology complements rather than complicates the human element of the guest experience, hotels can unlock new levels of guest satisfaction. Vargas highlights the following strategies for hoteliers to enhance this experience for their properties.

  • Invest in Modern, Unified Technology
  • Empower Your Workforce
  • Deliver Personalized Experiences
  • Create Emotional Connections
  • Proactively Manage and Respond to Feedback

Vargas concludes that mastering the fundamentals with the help of modern hotel technology is the key to ultimate guest experience. “To triumph in the guest experience race, align your experience goals and hotel systems with what truly matters to your guests. When guests feel appreciated, the tangible business benefits include enhanced guest loyalty and capturing a larger share of their spending.”

 

For Full Article, Click Here

LID Access max number error

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PROBLEM:

 

I continue to receive the following error message  when attempting to log into LID:

That indicates a license issue.

so I ran licsta -r  and found the license file is corrupt because it reverted to client 9999.

 

> licsta -r

 

Active License Status For Client 9999

 

License Code/  Active  Licensed  Highest

Application    Users    Users      Use    Expiration Date

———–    ——  ——–  ——-  —————

default                  2         7    Thu Aug 31 13:25:17 2023

PR           2                       Not Licensed

LP           1                       Not Licensed

HR           1                       Not Licensed

un              4       10       13    Sun Sep 17 10:39:42 2023

 

Run licsta -f and verified the file is corrupt.

> licsta -f

File [E:\lawson\law\system\license] not copied to E:\lawson\law\system\tmplicense] – Error [33]

Unable to Read License File Header – File May Be Corrupted

 

You will need to request a new software license key and re-install the license file.