Question

Consider the following scenario:

Your manufacturing company has operated with a mainframe IBM computer for more than 20 years. Recent technological advances have brought opportunities to replace that mainframe-based computing environment with a client/server environment. You have been tasked with responding to the senior management group about the security issues involved with replacing the existing mainframe computer environment with a client/server platform. The salespeople you deal with from each vendor believe that the current mainframe environment costs about $500K a year to maintain from a security standpoint, while a client/server environment would cost about $325K a year. But cost is not the only consideration. No PII or SPII data is contained in this manufacturing platform. It is strictly a final product for sale application.

Outline and review a typical mainframe enterprise security footprint. Do the same for a possible client/server environment. This could include the use of the cloud for distributed computing, but that would also include unique security concerns.

Discuss the following:

• Based on your outline, which of these environments is more secure and why?
• Does your outline show commonalities that could permit both the mainframe and the client/server environment to coexist from an enterprise security perspective? If so, what are they?

Respond to the following in a minimum of 175 words:

Answer 1

Today, mainframe computers play a central role in the daily operations of most of the world. The mainframe owes much of its popularity and longevity to its inherent reliability and stability, a result of continuous technological advances since the introduction of the IBM System 360 in 1964. No other computer architecture in existence can claim as much continuous, evolutionary improvement, while maintaining compatibility with existing applications.

The value of data has skyrocketed—and with it, threats to data security. Because a mainframe environment has thousands of users simultaneously executing a wide range of applications with varying performance profiles, it requires a multi-layered approach, including user identification and authentication, access control and other advanced security measures. Secure mainframes can help you protect your enterprise, detect threats, comply with policy and regulations, and reduce costs.

1. Reduce business risk by enforcing security policy and best practices
2. Provide closed loop, automated security intelligence and threat remediation
3. Simplify provisioning, governance and authorization of users, groups and resources
4. Protect essential data with comprehensive encryption and access control