IBM Z Compliance and Auditing 2.5 and IBM Z Compliance, Auditing and Administration 2.5 were announced on August 2, 2022 with a planned availability date of August 5, 2022. You can read the US announcement letter here.
Background
IBM zSystems continues to be the home for mission critical information and essential business production applications in many organizations due to the strong heritage of integrated security support capabilities across hardware, operating system, software and applications. Resource Access Control Facility (RACF) is the foundational IBM package provided for protecting zSystems. IBM Security zSecure suite builds on the security support in IBM zSystems, z/OS and RACF to enhance zSystems security capabilities.
Protecting customer data is a top priority for businesses. Security regulations and regular compliance audits aim to help businesses safeguard their data in the face of increasingly sophisticated cyber attacks, and remaining in compliance can be challenging and heavily resource intensive. On April 5, 2022 IBM Z Security and Compliance Center 1.1 was announced to help in this space. One of the components of this new product is the z/OS Compliance Integration Manager, which is built on top of zSecure Audit components. All functionality of zSecure Audit 2.5 is included in IBM Z Security and Compliance Center 1.1.
The IBM Security zSecure Compliance, Auditing and Administration solutions have been available since 2012. Several of these include zSecure Audit. The new solutions mirror these, with zSecure Audit replaced by IBM Z Security and Compliance Center--thus providing a sensible upgrade path to clients interested in the new compliance product.
Benefits
IBM Z Compliance and Auditing 2.5 (5655-N34) contains:
IBM Z Security and Compliance Center 1.1 (5655-CC1)
IBM Security zSecure Alert 2.5 (5655-N21)
IBM Security zSecure Command Verifier 2.5 (5655-N19)
IBM Z Compliance, Auditing and Administration 2.5 (5655-N35) contains:
IBM Z Security and Compliance Center 1.1 (5655-CC1)
IBM Security zSecure Alert 2.5 (5655-N21)
IBM Security zSecure Command Verifier 2.5 (5655-N19)
IBM Security zSecure Admin 2.5 (5655-N16)
IBM Security zSecure Visual 2.5 (5655-N20)
These mirror IBM Security zSecure Compliance and Auditing 2.5 (5655-N24) and IBM Security zSecure Compliance and Administration 2.5 (5655-N25), which contain IBM Security zSecure Audit 2.5 (5655-N17) instead of IBM Z Security and Compliance Center 1.1.
Migration
When IBM Z Security and Compliance Center 1.1 is added to an existing zSecure 2.5 installation, make sure that the following service stream enhancement is applied to the installation: IBM Z Security and Compliance Center 1.1, IMS reporting, and more.
If you have any questions, please ask them here or on the zSecure support forum. The IBM Security zSecure today article serves as a starting point to reach all the latest zSecure announcements.