IBM Resource Access Control Facility vs Top Secret comparison

In 1976, IBM set the standard for security products when RACF was introduced!

From the beginning, the RACF Development Team has proudly brought you RACF, the premier product for securing your most valuable corporate data. Working closely with your operating system's existing features, IBM's award-winning Resource Access Control Facility (RACF) licensed program provides improved security for an installation's data. RACF protects your vital system resources and controls what users can do on the operating system.

You decide which resources you want to protect and which users need access to them. RACF provides the functions that let you:

• identify and verify system users
• identify, classify, and protect system resources
• authorize the users who need access to the resources you've protected
• control the means of access to these resources
• log and report unauthorized attempts at gaining access to the system and to the protected resources
• administer security to meet your installation's security goals

IBM Resource Access Control Facility Features

Resource Access Control Facility offers the following features:

• Access Control: RACF allows administrators to define access controls for various system resources, including datasets, programs, transactions, and system commands. It enables granular control over who can access specific resources and what actions they can perform.

• User Authentication: The solution supports multiple authentication methods, such as passwords, digital certificates, smart cards, and biometrics. It ensures that only authorized users with valid credentials can access the system.

• Authorization: Users are provided with fine-grained authorization capabilities, allowing administrators to assign and manage permissions for individual users or groups. It enables the definition of resource-level and data-level access controls based on user roles and responsibilities.

• Auditing and Logging: RACF generates detailed audit logs that capture security events, including successful and failed access attempts, resource modifications, and policy violations. These logs are essential for compliance auditing, security analysis, and incident investigation.

• Secure Password Management: The product includes features for enforcing password policies, such as minimum length, complexity requirements, and password expiration. It supports password encryption and hashing to protect sensitive credentials.

• Encryption and Data Protection: The solution provides encryption capabilities to protect sensitive data stored on mainframe systems. It supports encryption algorithms and cryptographic protocols for safeguarding data confidentiality and integrity.

• Integration with External Authentication Systems: Users can integrate it with external authentication systems, such as Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (LDAP) or Active Directory, allowing them to leverage existing directories for authentication purposes.

• Resource Monitoring and Control: It enables real-time monitoring and control of resource accesses, as well as providing alerts and notifications for suspicious activities, allowing administrators to respond promptly to potential security threats.

• Compliance and Regulatory Support: RACF helps organizations meet regulatory compliance requirements by providing the necessary controls, audit trails, and reporting capabilities. It supports compliance frameworks such as Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS) and General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).

• Administration and Management: The solution offers a comprehensive set of administration and management tools for configuring, maintaining, and monitoring the security environment. It provides utilities for managing user accounts, defining security policies, and performing system-wide security administration tasks.

IBM Resource Access Control Facility Benefits

Some of the benefits that IBM RACF can offer its users are:

• Enhanced security

• Access control management

• Authorization and authentication capabilities

• Centralized control over resource access

• Fine-grained access control policies

• Audit trail and monitoring features

• Compliance with regulatory requirements

• Protection against unauthorized access

• Segregation of duties

• Efficient resource allocation and utilization

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

Top Secret Features

Top secret provides the following features:

• Access Control: Top Secret provides fine-grained control over user access to mainframe resources, allowing administrators to specify precisely which users can access specific datasets, programs, or system functions.

• Auditing and Logging: The solution generates comprehensive audit trails, capturing security-related events and activities, enabling organizations to monitor and analyze user actions for compliance purposes and security incident investigations.

• Secure Remote Administration: Administrators can also securely manage and administer Top Secret from remote locations, allowing for efficient administration without compromising security.

• Encryption: Top Secret supports encryption of sensitive data, ensuring that information stored on the mainframe remains protected from unauthorized access or disclosure.

• Role-Based Access Control (RBAC): By implementing RBAC, Top Secret simplifies access management by assigning privileges and permissions based on predefined roles or job functions, reducing administrative overhead.

• Integration with External Authentication Systems: Top Secret integrates with external systems, such as LDAP or Active Directory, enabling centralized user authentication and leveraging existing identity management infrastructure.

• Secure Communication Channels: TS ensures secure communication channels between the mainframe and external systems, protecting data transmitted across networks from interception or tampering.

• Compliance and Regulatory Support: Organizations can meet regulatory requirements and industry standards by providing security controls, auditing capabilities, and access management features.

• Secure Key Management: Top Secret facilitates the secure management of encryption keys and digital signatures, ensuring the integrity and confidentiality of sensitive information.

• Resource Protection: Mainframe resources are safeguarded from unauthorized access or modification, providing an additional layer of protection to critical assets and data.

• Security Monitoring: The solution provides real-time monitoring of security events and alerts, enabling proactive threat detection and response to potential security incidents.

• User Provisioning: Top Secret streamlines user provisioning processes, simplifying the onboarding and offboarding of users and ensuring that access is granted or revoked in a timely manner.

• Session Management: The product offers session management capabilities, including session timeouts and session termination, ensuring that user sessions are properly managed and secure.

• Top Secret Benefits

  Some of the benefits that Top Secret offers are:

  • Robust access control

  • Strong authentication mechanisms

  • Comprehensive auditing and logging

  • Protection of mainframe resources

  • Compliance with regulatory requirements

  • Secure remote administration

  • Encryption of sensitive data

  • Integration with external authentication systems

  • Secure communication channels

  • Support for encryption keys and digital signatures