Applied Software, Inc., a z/OS client/server software developer, has announced a new release of its mainframe-based encryption product for z/OS file encryption. Filegard version 5.0, currently available for beta test, is designed to provide centralized protection of encryption keys, and encryption support of multiple file formats and media.
"For decades, the military and other governmental agencies have successfully used data encryption to protect their secrets. But until recently, business and industry considered this method too costly, complex and time-consuming," Janis Josephson, president of Applied Software, tells 5 Minute Briefing. "Filegard offers a solution providing such a simple-to-use method for encrypting at-rest data, there's no excuse for large organizations to have at-risk data. By at-risk, I refer to data that organizations falsely believe is protected; it may be access-controlled but not encrypted."
Filegard runs within IBM z/OS V1R9, V1R10, V1R11 or V1R12 environments. The tool is comprised of a simple batch process, a key management component and algorithm verification & audit utilities. The software uses a strong and symmetric encryption algorithm (AES128), and does not require programming changes, or SYSGEN or IPL, the vendor says.
The product is designed to provide an interface between encryption algorithms and the IBM z/OS computer user. It can be installed and run as a batch job. The batch interface is comprised of two programs: the Batch Encipher Program and the Batch Decipher Program; these programs perform the encryption/decryption process.
"Filegard offers an encryption solution for tape and disk library data, scheduled database backups and other processes where large amounts of data and a large number of records may be accessed," Josephson says. "A cost-effective feature of the batch process is that a range of columns may be encrypted, without having to process all the characters in a record."
For sites requiring encryption of real-time data versus batch, Applied Software also offers a full-function encryption package.
"Protecting highly sensitive and at-risk data in a simple and straightforward manner was our goal when we developed Filegard. Filegard offers a solution for batch data which may be access controlled but not encrypted," Josephson adds.
More information is available from Applied Software at www.appliedsoftware.com.