Mainframe Access, Modernized with Rocket^® Secure Host Access

Company

Industry: Banking

This leading financial institution serves a diverse client base across Asia-Pacific, delivering banking and financial services across several major markets. The organization is known for its strong focus on security, regulatory compliance, and continuous innovation.

Challenge

The bank's PCOMM-based environment didn't support MFA or connect to its IAM platform, forcing users to rely on weak, eight-character static passwords that created compliance gaps and user friction.

As regulations evolved, the bank couldn’t enforce consistent security controls across its environments. The PCOMM terminal emulator didn’t support multi-factor authentication or integrate with the enterprise Identity and Access Management platform, forcing users to log in with separate, eight-character passwords that fell below modern standards. This exposed sensitive data and created a frustrating user experience. To meet compliance mandates, the bank needed to fundamentally change how it authenticated mainframe access.

Solution

Rocket Software worked with the bank to deploy Rocket Secure Host Access, which integrated enterprise MFA with mainframe authentication and eliminated reliance on static passwords.

After a successful proof of concept and targeted pilot, the bank deployed Rocket Secure Host Access. The solution integrated with the bank's existing IAM platform, replacing  reliance on static mainframe passwords with secure, one-time logins authenticated via enterprise MFA. This gave IT centralized control while simplifying the user experience.

Results

The bank strengthened its compliance posture and addressed key regulatory mandates, reduced its IT support workload, and provided a streamlined login experience for users, closing critical security gaps across the mainframe environment.

By modernizing its host access architecture, the bank didn't just enhance security; it also improved operations and the user experience. Extending enterprise MFA to the mainframe helped satisfy complex regulatory requirements and close critical security gaps, which reduced the risk of unauthorized access to sensitive financial data. The bank also eliminated static passwords and separate mainframe credentials, which significantly lowered help desk tickets for password resets. This freed up IT staff for higher-value work and removed friction from users' daily workflows.

Get started with Rocket Secure Host Access

Discover how Rocket Secure Host Access can help your organization meet compliance mandates, strengthen mainframe security, and simplify authentication for every user.