ACF2 vs Top Secret comparison

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."

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