ACF2 vs IBM Security Guardium Data Protection comparison

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Executive Summary

We performed a comparison between ACF2 and IBM Security Guardium Data Protection 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 2024).
765,234 professionals have used our research since 2012.
Featured Review
Quotes From Members
We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use.
Here are some excerpts of what they said:
Pros
"We use this tool to quickly assign privileges to different users as soon as they come in.""The NOACCESS by default is another very good feature. Also, access rules are straightforward, and easy to understand.""Logging and monitoring are most valuable. It is for the mainframe environment, and it is at the forefront for security and resilience.""I love their support. The support is great. They are number one.""Excellent real-time reporting that saves time and resources."

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"Ease of deployment is a valuable feature.""Has a great Big Data Intelligence feature.""Guardium does a great job of capturing data and having the ability of trying to pull it out and make sense of it. Using it for business applications is its biggest capability.""The most valuable feature is the GUI, the interface. It also interfaces well with REST API, if you want to automate some of the commands.""IBM Guardium Data Protection is very good at keeping your database secure.""It does not require our involvement to run it. It runs in the background and the people that do the reporting do so. The reports go to the directors who are in charge of the various data areas. It's pretty clean. Clearly there is some setup, but after you get it set up it just goes.""One of the most valuable features is the accelerator. It has a predefined report for PCI SOX compliance and other compliances.""The most valuable feature is using the capture operation mode “S-TAP/K-TAP agent”, because all activities in the database are captured, including direct access to the database server by privileged users. This is useful because, even if the database server logs were deleted, the Guardium Collector has already stored such data to enable traceability of access."

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Cons
"Reporting can sometimes include false positives.""It needs longer rules. The max rule is 32K.""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.""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.​"

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"Needs nore cloud support.""More automation, user guides, and tips would make this solution better.""Sometimes the connectors to the databases need to be manually updated and we have to configure them again, which is something that should be improved.""I would like to see AI and machine learning added in the future.""The documentation could be better.""I would like to see streamlining of some of the agent features, some of the patches; make it a little bit more user-friendly on the documentation.""It was difficult implementing it, configuring it, getting it up and running and in production. However, since then, I believe it has stabilized.""Personally, I would not recommend this product."

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Pricing and Cost Advice
Information Not Available
  • "We haven't talked much about pricing and licencing. But it is not cheap for sure"
  • "I would suggest to review the type of data, need for security, and if the organizational structure needs the options IBM Guardium provides."
  • "​If you are researching this type of solution, work with IBM."
  • "Guardium has not saved us time or money."
  • "The biggest challenge is the cost associated with the product, and the cost of maintaining. Everything is not translated directly to the benefits we see. There are benefits, yes, but if I were writing the check, would I buy Guardium? No."
  • "Guardium won mostly because of our scope and scale. It was able to perform at the scale that we wanted to use it. ​"
  • "The price of Guardium is higher than the main competitor, Imperva. In addition, it's complex as the calculation of the licensing is done by Processor Value Unit (PVU). However, before purchasing a DAP solution, it is important to analyze specific points to evaluate the cost-benefit of each tool. For example: Does the environment to be monitored have mainframes? If so, it's a point for Guardium. If not, a point for Imperva. Note: IBM is looking into a new licensing policy and reducing the price of Guardium."
  • "One of the deployments that I know of had three databases, and the yearly fees are approximately $50,000 USD."
  • More IBM Security Guardium Data Protection Pricing and Cost Advice →

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    Questions from the Community
    Top Answer:A set length of 12 characters can ensure the safety of a system. Longer passwords provide an added layer of security, especially when combined with other password complexity requirements. With a… more »
    Top Answer:ACF2 can be suitable for beginners with the right guidance and support. While it may have a steep learning curve for many due to its complexity, it offers extensive documentation and resources that… more »
    Top Answer:ACF2's reporting capabilities are highly valuable. It offers various predefined reports that provide insights into our system's security posture. These reports include information on user access… more »
    Top Answer:IBM Security Guardium Data Protection is a solution for database security from IBM that gives complete visibility, control, and analysis to secure sensitive data and comply with regulations IBM… more »
    Top Answer:It sends out an immediate alert when there's suspicious activity.
    Top Answer:IBM solutions have fair price strategy, and operates on a yearly basis. If it's a SaaS solution, then you can opt for yearly basis.
    Ranking
    16th
    out of 22 in Database Security
    Views
    84
    Comparisons
    51
    Reviews
    0
    Average Words per Review
    0
    Rating
    N/A
    1st
    out of 22 in Database Security
    Views
    6,560
    Comparisons
    3,241
    Reviews
    14
    Average Words per Review
    450
    Rating
    8.4
    Comparisons
    Also Known As
    CA ACF2
    InfoSphere Guardium, Guardium, IBM Guardium
    Learn More
    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."

    IBM Security Guardium Data Protection automatically discovers and classifies sensitive data from across the enterprise, providing real-time data activity monitoring and advanced user behavior analytics to help discover unusual activity around sensitive data.

    Deploy the solution to help discover regulated data in your data stores and use pre-built templates for regulations such as PCI, SOX, HIPAA, CCPA and many more, to streamline and automate compliance workflows.

    Sample Customers
    Sky, Rogers Communications
    Information Not Available
    Top Industries
    VISITORS READING REVIEWS
    Financial Services Firm40%
    Manufacturing Company10%
    Government9%
    Computer Software Company8%
    REVIEWERS
    Financial Services Firm40%
    Computer Software Company18%
    Healthcare Company10%
    Insurance Company10%
    VISITORS READING REVIEWS
    Financial Services Firm27%
    Computer Software Company11%
    Government9%
    Insurance Company7%
    Company Size
    REVIEWERS
    Small Business29%
    Midsize Enterprise14%
    Large Enterprise57%
    VISITORS READING REVIEWS
    Small Business14%
    Midsize Enterprise7%
    Large Enterprise79%
    REVIEWERS
    Small Business32%
    Midsize Enterprise14%
    Large Enterprise54%
    VISITORS READING REVIEWS
    Small Business15%
    Midsize Enterprise11%
    Large Enterprise73%
    Buyer's Guide
    Database Security
    March 2024
    Find out what your peers are saying about IBM, Imperva, Oracle and others in Database Security. Updated: March 2024.
    765,234 professionals have used our research since 2012.

    ACF2 is ranked 16th in Database Security while IBM Security Guardium Data Protection is ranked 1st in Database Security with 70 reviews. ACF2 is rated 9.0, while IBM Security Guardium Data Protection is rated 8.2. The top reviewer of ACF2 writes "A reliable, scalable product for security and auditing of our mainframe environment". On the other hand, the top reviewer of IBM Security Guardium Data Protection writes "Provides visibility, has a single console that shows all information, and collector-aggregator capabilities". ACF2 is most compared with IBM Resource Access Control Facility, Top Secret and IBM Security zSecure, whereas IBM Security Guardium Data Protection is most compared with Imperva SecureSphere Database Security, Oracle Audit Vault, Oracle Advanced Security, DataSunrise Database Security and Vormetric Application Crypto Suite.

    See our list of best Database Security vendors.

    We monitor all Database Security reviews to prevent fraudulent reviews and keep review quality high. We do not post reviews by company employees or direct competitors. We validate each review for authenticity via cross-reference with LinkedIn, and personal follow-up with the reviewer when necessary.