Securing Legacy Mainframe Data with DataStealth
A financial services or telecommunications company operating IBM DB2 instances on a mainframe environment protects cleartext data without code changes or agents.
Download the Case StudyOrganizations in sectors like financial services and telecommunications often rely on mainframes to store vast quantities of historical customer data. While this data is critical, it frequently resides in cleartext, posing a significant security risk.
The inherent complexity and age of mainframe application code (e.g. COBOL) and legacy database structures make modifications high-risk, expensive, and time-consuming. Adding to this issue is the scarcity of skilled mainframe developers.
A key concern is that organizations typically want to avoid installing agents directly on mainframes because doing so can impact performance, introduce operational risks, and is often unsupported or restricted. Furthermore, sensitive data is often replicated from the mainframe to other systems, which increases the attack surface, particularly when data traverses trust boundaries or different security zones.
Accessing data on mainframes introduces unique security challenges due to legacy protocols like TN3270, which are still widely used for terminal-based sessions and transmit data in real-time to user screens. Protecting information at the point of display requires role-based enforced dynamic masking, applied inline, without disrupting the user experience.
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