Accidental changes
Preventing mistakes that cause significant outages can be just as critical as thwarting malicious attacks. Hard-to-detect issues such as forgotten files, incorrect LPARs, or outdated versions can disrupt operations just as severely as a breach. Additionally, since these changes are often made by authorized individuals executing approved updates, tracking them through event logs or signature detection alone is nearly impossible—perhaps you’ve experienced this firsthand.
In the normal course of business, procedures, hardware, and software frequently change. While most policies aim to prevent mistakes or minimize their impact, errors can still slip through even with the best workflows and tools in place.
Active Verification
MainTegrity sets a new standard for intrusion detection. Traditionally, because clear comparisons are hard to achieve, audit teams focus on processes, trust that they are followed rigorously, and hope for consistent outcomes. However, this approach often lacks the concrete evidence needed to respond with confidence.
By running a MainTegrity scan on demand, management can now provide immediate, conclusive evidence that production files match the control environment. Auditing becomes effortless—not only can you demonstrate robust processes, but you can also irrefutably prove that all systems are synchronized. Scheduled or random interval scans allow organizations to detect all changes, whether authorized or not, while building a strong evidence base for future compliance needs.
MainTegrity addresses key issues, including:
- Incorrect versions of applications in use
- Mismatches caused by updates to the wrong environment (e.g., production vs. test)
- Incomplete or incorrect deployments
- Unauthorized components in controlled environments
- Missing updates to components that should have been changed
- Corrupted or unreadable files
- Incomplete rollbacks
- Superseded versions lingering in use
- Unused components that could serve as backdoors
Reducing False Positives
File Integrity Monitoring (FIM) detects all changes—valid or otherwise. Without proper management, this can create “noise” that leads to alert fatigue, undermining responses when they matter most. MainTegrity implements FIM+ to scan entire business applications as cohesive groups. At the conclusion of the QA cycle, MainTegrity creates TrustKeys for the entire application as well as each component. This ensures prior, current, and even future releases are recognized in advance.
When modifications are detected, MainTegrity distinguishes between unknown components and those from different versions. This differentiation minimizes false positives by identifying whether the issue is a malicious intrusion or simply an incomplete update. By reducing noise, MainTegrity provides responders with actionable information, reduces stress on staff, and improves adherence to alert protocols.
Avoiding Deployment Failures
The same capabilities that identify incorrect components can be used proactively at the end of a deployment cycle. MainTegrity ensures that all components meet the trusted QA-approved version by performing automated, file-by-file checksum comparisons. This guarantees that every step—copies, renames, transfers, parameter changes, etc.—was executed correctly. For the first time, you can confidently say, “This change is certified correct” and have the evidence to back it up.
Saving Time and Reducing Errors with FIM+
Mainframes, especially z/OS systems, represent a significant blind spot for traditional FIM and conclusive change detection. Many support staff lack the tools or expertise to effectively test the security of this critical infrastructure. As a result, these systems are often overlooked by IT security teams—until a breach occurs. In many cases, changes go unverified simply due to the lack of user-friendly tools.
This gap ends with MainTegrity FIM+. It’s time to implement a robust solution. Whether you choose FIM+ or the next best alternative, regulatory standards and common sense dictate that you address these vulnerabilities without delay.