CA enriches mainframe security

CA last week updated three applications in its mainframe identity- and access-management suite with features the company says help customers establish consistent passwords across systems and assess the impact of security changes on performance.

ETrust CA-ACF2 Security and eTrust CA-Top Secret Security are software applications installed on IBM z/OS mainframe systems to secure system resources, set access policies, and control administrator and user access rights. The company has upgraded the products with controls to let administrators, for example, use longer passwords, which CA says will let them instill consistent password policies across mainframe and distributed systems.

CA, which competes with BMC Software and IBM in the mainframe management market, also enhanced the products' features to provide reporting about multilevel security on data sets, resources and access type or user security classification. Company representatives say the applications now help IT managers prove all systems are compliant, even those in their back-end legacy environment.

"The mainframe is often assumed to be compliant, and it's a rude awakening when guidelines aren't and need to be further addressed," says Lina Liberti, vice president of product marketing for security management at CA. The upgrades will help companies run compliance reports automatically, instead of requiring administrators to do them manually, she says.

CA also upgraded eTrust Cleanup, a software application customers use to determine whether unused privileges should be removed. For instance, Joanne Kelly, senior information security analyst at Boston University, says she runs the product once a month to discover who hasn't used their access privileges to certain resources and determine whether the security controls should be changed.

"People tend to ask for access to stuff they need but don't always let you know when they are done with it," she says.

Also a CA-Top Secret Security user, Kelly says CA upgrades have let her set up Unix system servers and create certificates and FTPs for business partners without worry.

"I have a comfort level with access rights on the mainframe. Top Secret secures my programs, data sets, resources, you name it, and I know I am not going to get back-doored," she says.

Pricing for Cleanup is approximately $62,500 per CPU. CA-ACF2 Security and CA-Top Secret Security are licensed based on capacity with prices starting at $26,000.