ACF2 vs Flow Security comparison

Broadcom and Flow Security are both solutions in the Database Security category. Broadcom is ranked #15, while Flow Security is ranked #19. Broadcom holds a 1.3% mindshare in DS, compared to Flow Security’s 0.7% mindshare. Additionally, 100% of Broadcom users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 100% of Flow Security users who would recommend it.

ACF2

Read 6 ACF2 reviews

639 Views
179 Comparison Views

100% willing to recommend

Flow Security

Read 1 Flow Security review

504 Views
86 Comparison Views

100% willing to recommend

ACF2

Flow Security

Comparison Buyer's Guide

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Executive Summary

We performed a comparison between ACF2 and Flow Security based on real PeerSpot user reviews.

Find out what your peers are saying about IBM, Imperva, Oracle and others in Database Security.

To learn more, read our detailed Database Security Report (Updated: March 2026).

Buyer's Guide

Database Security

March 2026

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Helped 885,444 peers since 2012

Review summaries and opinions

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:

Categories and Ranking

ACF2

Ranking in Database Security

15th

Average Rating

9.0

Reviews Sentiment

7.8

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Mainframe Security (5th)

Flow Security

Ranking in Database Security

19th

Average Rating

9.0

Reviews Sentiment

7.7

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Data Security Posture Management (DSPM) (22nd)

Mindshare comparison

As of April 2026, in the Database Security category, the mindshare of ACF2 is 1.3%, up from 0.6% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Flow Security is 0.7%, up from 0.0% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Database Security Mindshare Distribution
Product	Mindshare (%)
ACF2	1.3%
Flow Security	0.7%
Other	98.0%

Database Security

Featured Reviews

reviewer1077621

IT Examiner at a financial services firm with 10,001+ employees

A reliable, scalable product for security and auditing of our mainframe environment

It is a good product. It has been used for years. As long as it is configured correctly, it is a very stable product. It depends on how an institution or a company configures it. It depends on an institution's risk appetite. You need to make sure it is configured as per the concept of least privilege, and the logging features, detection and control mechanism, and other things like that are enabled. If you configure it to give access to the public, then there could be compromises. You should also have someone who independently checks it to make sure that it is configured keeping security in mind. If it has been configured for a while, when there are enhancements to the product or when you enhance it, you need to make sure that security is also looked at, and it is configured according to an institution's security policies. I would rate it a nine out of 10.

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reviewer2231631

Chief Information Security Officer at a computer software company with 51-200 employees

It gives us a risk report that helps us refine our process management by highlighting where we might be exposed

Flow's distinctive capability to analyze both data at rest and data in motion grants us the ability not only to get full visibility and classification of the data within our managed databases but also to visualize the data flows both within and beyond our environment. This enables us to achieve a comprehensive understanding of all our sensitive data, even as it traverses through applications, shadow databases, and external services such as third-party entities and SaaS applications. What we aspire to achieve with Flow is extended visibility into the external services themselves, which will allow us to see the data they contain.

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Quotes from Members

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:

Pros

"By providing a high level of access control to the z/OS systems, ACF2 allows us to maintain tight controls on dataset and system access and helps us keep unauthorized users from accessing PHI or PII data."

"Know that this tool is a great tool, a good tool to use, because you can quickly automate, quickly provision, and deprovision new users, which is essential when you are bringing new people onboard."

"Logging and monitoring are most valuable. It is for the mainframe environment, and it is at the forefront for security and resilience."

"We use this tool to quickly assign privileges to different users as soon as they come in."

"I am deeply impressed with the quality and depth and breadth of security and functionality in CA’s ACF2 and Top Secret products."

"It is a good product."

"The most valuable feature is strict and reliable access control to CICS Resources."

"The NOACCESS by default is another very good feature. Also, access rules are straightforward, and easy to understand."

More ACF2 pros

"Before implementing Flow Security, we had no mechanism to alert us when third-party contractors were accessing sensitive data or moving it to locations with lower security. Now we know precisely where the data is stored and can assess the risk when someone wants to develop something. Flow Security lowers our risk of a data breach."

Cons

"I would like my team and me to be able to use simple browsers, like Chrome, to be able to access mainframe data and provision users using the browser."

"It needs longer rules. The max rule is 32K."

"Reporting can sometimes include false positives."

"They can work on its ability to work in a distributed environment. It's a mainframe product. As many companies move to the cloud, depending on what cloud models they choose, such as a public, hybrid, or private cloud, it should be deployable. I am not sure if it can be deployed on those platforms. It has been there since the '50s or '60s, and it's still scalable. It has survived all these years, and it's scalable to many platforms, but I don't know about the cloud."

"They can work on its ability to work in a distributed environment."

"The user access review could also be improved. It produces a lot of false positives."

More ACF2 cons

"It provides a good overview of our infrastructure, but I need more end-to-end visibility, and SaaS is one of the gaps."

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Financial Services Firm

19%

Manufacturing Company

14%

Comms Service Provider

10%

Retailer

University

13%

Computer Software Company

11%

Financial Services Firm

Manufacturing Company

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	2
Midsize Enterprise	1
Large Enterprise	4

No data available

Comparisons

Top Secret vs ACF2

Compared 28% of the time

IBM Resource Access Control Facility vs ACF2

Compared 26% of the time

Precisely Ironstream vs ACF2

Compared 13% of the time

IBM Security Guardium Data Protection vs ACF2

Compared 11% of the time

Cleanup vs ACF2

Compared 11% of the time

More ACF2 Competitors

Cyera vs Flow Security

Compared 38% of the time

Varonis Platform vs Flow Security

Compared 24% of the time

Wiz vs Flow Security

Compared 19% of the time

Dig vs Flow Security

Compared 19% of the time

More Flow Security Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Mainframe Security

March 2026

Download ACF2 product report

Buyer's Guide

Database Security

March 2026

Download Flow Security product report

Also Known As

CA ACF2

No data available

Overview

CA ACF2™ for z/OS provides innovative, comprehensive security for your business transaction environments—including Linux, UNIX and z/OS on System z—helping you realize the reliability, scalability and cost-effectiveness of the mainframe. CA ACF2 provides an Advanced Authentication Mainframe feature, system entry validation, resource control, auditability, accountability, and administrative control. In conjunction with distributed security solutions from CA Technologies, CA ACF2 provides mobile-to-mainframe enterprise class security and compliance management.

ACF2 Features

ACF2 offers some of the following features:

Authentication: ACF2 is used for authenticating users and granting them access to profiles and various resources on the mainframe.
Access Control: The solution provides resource control, allowing administrators to control who can access specific mainframe resources.
Logging and Monitoring: Organizations can easily track and monitor activities on the mainframe. This feature enables the creation of audit trails for follow-up and helps with security analysis.
Metrics and Reporting: ACF2 allows the configuration of tools to produce different types of metrics and reports. These can then be used by senior management for making informed security decisions.
Comprehensive Security: The solution provides comprehensive security for mainframe environments, ensuring the protection of valuable data assets. It offers advanced authentication, system entry validation, and administrative control.
Streamlined Administration: It simplifies the administration of mainframe security by providing streamlined management capabilities. ACF2 also enables administrators to monitor and adjust security policies and accommodate various organizational structures.
Scalability: ACF2 offers reliable and scalable security, allowing businesses to expand their mainframe environments while maintaining a high level of protection.
Compliance Management: Organizations can meet compliance requirements by providing auditability, accountability, and comprehensive security controls.
Integration: ACF2 can integrate with distributed security solutions from CA Technologies, providing enterprise-class security and compliance management for mobile-to-mainframe environments.
Flexibility: ACF2 allows flexibility in adapting security policies to accommodate different organizational structures and requirements.

ACF2 Benefits

Some of the benefits that ACF2 provides are:

Enhanced security and resilience
Streamlined administration
Reliable and scalable security
Comprehensive audit capabilities
Cost-effectiveness
Integration with other security solutions
Simplified identity and access management
Compliance management
Efficient monitoring and reporting

Reviews from Real Users

According to an IT Examiner at a financial services firm with 10,000+ employees, "ACF2 is extremely beneficial for the mainframe environment, and it is at the forefront for security and resilience."

Broadcom

Flow is a data security platform that combines Data Security Posture Management (DSPM) together with real-time detection and response to data security violations. Flow is not just your cloud security tool with a data scanning utility. It is the only platform that analyzes both data at rest and data in motion. By also following and analyzing all data flows in runtime, the platform enables security teams to regain control over all their data, including shadow data stores and applications across all cloud, on-prem, and SaaS environments.

Flow’s deep analysis of the organization’s data journey from origin to destination allows security teams to automatically catalog all their sensitive data (e.g. PII, PHI, PCI); visualize data flows; detect and remediate data risks; and effectively respond in real-time to data violations by providing the full context: who, what, when, where and why.

Flow Security

Sample Customers

Sky, Rogers Communications

Information Not Available

Find out what your peers are saying about IBM, Imperva, Oracle and others in Database Security. Updated: March 2026.

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