How Your Data Security Posture (DSPM) Drives Protection on Your Mainframe – PK Protect for z/OS is here

In today’s digital age, mainframe data is more valuable than ever before. As a result, your organization is under increasing pressure to protect data from unauthorized access, use, disclosure, disruption, modification, or destruction. This is exactly why PKWARE is launching our latest solution: PK Protect for z/OS, at SHARE this week. In support of the need for a strong data security posture, PK Protect for z/OS provides critical discovery on unstructured z/OS data sets. It is the only solution that uses data definitions and copybooks for accurate and precise discovery, giving your organization the ability to:

• Meet regulatory guidelines and avoid costly penalties.
• Discover sensitive data that has moved across testing, production and dev environments for over 60 years (including orphaned data sets).
• Minimize impact and cost of a data breach and subsequent ransom.
• Protect data before it is moved to the hybrid cloud.
• Reduce time-consuming manual efforts to discover and validate data.
• Support your internal policies.

PK Protect for z/OS supports organizations with their Data Security Posture Management (DSPM), which is a critical strategic measure to ensure the security of their mainframe, cloud, and endpoint data. DSPM provides a comprehensive view of an organization’s data security posture, including the identification of risks, the implementation of controls, and the monitoring of the environment for compliance.

Mainframe data is arguably the most critical data in an organization because it is primarily used to store and process sensitive information, such as financial records, customer data, and intellectual property. As a result, mainframe data becomes a prime target for cyberattacks.

• Data Discovery: PK Protect for z/OS uses data definitions for accurate and precise discovery. Once we find all the data definitions in your data sets, it creates schemas to be used at discovery runtime.
• Data Classification: Organizations need to classify the data they find. This involves identifying the sensitivity of the data and determining the appropriate level of security controls.
• Data Encryption: End-to-end encryption of sensitive data is one of the most effective ways to protect it from unauthorized access.

• Increased Visibility into Data Security Risks: DSPM provides organizations with a comprehensive view of their data security posture, including the identification of risks, the implementation of controls, and the monitoring of the environment for compliance. Increased visibility can help organizations identify and mitigate risks more effectively.
• Improved Compliance: DSPM can help organizations comply with various data security regulations, such as GDPR, PCI, HIPAA, and more.
• Reduced Costs: DSPM can help organizations reduce the costs associated with data security by identifying and eliminating unnecessary controls and the need for multiple vendors.
• Improved Efficiency: DSPM can help organizations improve the efficiency of their data security operations by automating tasks and providing centralized reporting.

DSPM and mainframe data protection are essential for organizations that want to protect their data from unauthorized access, use, disclosure, disruption, modification, or destruction. By utilizing a solution like PK Protect for z/OS, you are protecting the source of what attackers are after in the first place, your data.  

PKWARE takes an inside-out approach meaning perimeter tools are important, but we work alongside those to protect what’s inside your mainframe, in the cloud and even on your endpoints. Once again, it all circles back to the core: the data. Why not protect the very target that initiates these efforts, irrespective of its location or movement.

PK Protect for z/OS with SchemaLink Technology

One of the only mainframe solutions that accurately discovers and protects sensitive data in large z/OS data sets.