Published on 01-Jul-2009
"“Tivoli zSecure delivers the reports we need to meet the demands of security, audit and regulatory requirements such as SOX. By easing the burden of audits, our security administrators can focus their time on improving security quality.” " - —Damien Dunne, Mainframe Systems Manager, Allied Irish Banks
Customer:
Allied Irish Banks (AIB)
Industry:
Financial Markets
Deployment country:
Ireland
Solution:
Security, Service Management
IBM Business Partner:
RSM Partners
Overview
To help it rigorously enforce security and reduce security administration, AIB replaced its existing mainframe security system with IBM RACF and Tivoli zSecure software.
Business need:
AIB needed to become more agile and cost-effective in serving its retail customers
Solution:
Working with IBM Business Partner RSM Partners, AIB replaced its existing mainframe security software with an IBM Service Management solution that helps it to stay ahead of security threats and lower the cost of compliance with legal and regulatory requirements.
Benefits:
Expected reduction in administration effort; Strengthened security efforts with proactive and deep auditing of the security configuration; Enabled staff to respond quickly to configuration errors and security breaches
Case Study
Allied Irish Banks streamlines compliance and risk management efforts with IBM Tivoli zSecure software
Headquartered in Dublin, Allied Irish Banks (AIB) offers a wide range of personal banking services. With operations in Ireland, Poland, the United Kingdom and the United States, AIB employs more than 25,000 people worldwide in more than 750 offices.
Challenge
As competition and regulation increased, AIB—Ireland’s largest bank—needed to become more agile and cost-effective in serving its retail customers if it were to remain a major player in the European banking market. The organization embarked on a complete transformation of its retail banking system, implementing the new solution on the IBM® System z® platform running z/OS®. As part of the transformation, AIB sought to replace its existing mainframe security system. AIB needed a comprehensive suite of security tools that would help it rigorously enforce security as well as automate administration and auditing for both the new banking platform and its legacy environments.
Solution
Working with IBM Business Partner RSM Partners, AIB replaced its existing mainframe security software with an IBM Service Management solution that helps it to stay ahead of security threats and lower the cost of compliance with legal and regulatory requirements. Using IBM RACF® and IBM Tivoli® zSecure software, AIB security administrators can now:
- Conduct proactive and deep auditing of the security configuration to detect and report on exposures and concerns.
- Monitor its environment in realtime for configuration errors, exposures and intruders so administrators can take immediate action and minimize the risk of costly breaches.
- Access comprehensive and customizable reports to reduce audit overhead while addressing security, audit and regulatory requirements such as the Sarbanes-Oxley Act (SOX).
- Automatically track changes to z/OS and RACF security to help staff to quickly determine if system resources are at risk.
Because RACF is integrated into the IBM z/OS operating system, the organization reduced additional upgrade and testing work previously required to integrate the ISV-provided mainframe security product. This has been instrumental in helping to reduce costs, strengthen security and simplify operations.
According to AIB, Tivoli zSecure software eased the transition to the RACF security system. The user-friendly interfaces, interactive command generation, automated procedures and comprehensive online help of Tivoli zSecure software allowed security administrators and help desk personnel to rapidly gain the z/OS and RACF security skills and knowledge they needed. Tivoli zSecure software also helps AIB to confirm that security administrators comply with security policy and procedures. In cases in which an administrator inputs a non-compliant RACF command, the software can either automatically stop or correct the action. This helps AIB reduce RACF database cleanup efforts and rapidly apply security policy to prevent security exposures. By reducing security administration efforts, staff can better focus on quality control processes that help to improve audit scores, change tracking and overall monitoring of the environment.
Benefits
- Expected reduction in administration effort
- Strengthened security efforts with proactive and deep auditing of the security configuration
- Enabled staff to respond quickly to configuration errors and security breaches
Overview
Allied Irish Banks
Dublin, Ireland
www.aib.ie
Industry
Financial Services
Products
IBM® Resource Access Control Facility (RACF®)
IBM System z9® running IBM z/OS® 1.9
IBM Security zSecure 1.9
IBM Security zSecure Admin
IBM Security zSecure Alert
IBM Security zSecure Audit
IBM Security zSecure Command Verifier
IBM Security zSecure Visual
IBM Business Partner:
RSM Partners
(www.rsmpartners.com)
“Tivoli zSecure delivers the reports we need to meet the demands of security, audit and regulatory requirements such as SOX. By easing the burden of audits, our security administrators can focus their time on improving security quality.”
—Damien Dunne, Mainframe Systems Manager, Allied Irish Banks
For more information, visit:
ibm.com/tivoli
To learn more about AIB’s retail banking system transformation, visit:
http://www-01.ibm.com/software/success/cssdb.nsf/CS/JSTS-7GCSK7?OpenDocument&Site=corp&cty=en_us
Products and services used
IBM products and services that were used in this case study.
Hardware:
System z, System z: System z9
Software:
z/OS, IBM Security zSecure Alert for RACF, IBM Security zSecure Command Verifier, IBM Security zSecure Visual, IBM Security zSecure Admin, IBM Security zSecure Audit for RACF
Legal Information
© Copyright IBM Corporation 2009 IBM Corporation Software Group Route 100 Somers, NY 10589 U.S.A. Produced in the United States of America June 2009 All Rights Reserved IBM, the IBM logo, ibm.com, RACF, System z9, Tivoli and z/OS are trademarks of International Business Machines Corporation, registered in many jurisdictions worldwide. A current list of IBM trademarks is available on the Web at “Copyright and trademark information” at www.ibm.com/legal/copytrade.shtml. Other company, product, or service names may be trademarks or service marks of others. The information contained in this documentation is provided for informational purposes only. While efforts were made to verify the completeness and accuracy of the information contained in this documentation, it is provided “as is” without warranty of any kind, express or implied. In addition, this information is based on IBM’s current product plans and strategy, which are subject to change by IBM without notice. IBM shall not be responsible for any damages arising out of the use of, or otherwise related to, this documentation or any other documentation. Nothing contained in this documentation is intended to, nor shall have the effect of, creating any warranties or representations from IBM (or its suppliers or licensors), or altering the terms and conditions of the applicable license agreement governing the use of IBM software. TIC14074-IEEN-00