Vanguard Security & Compliance Conference 2026

Vanguard Security & Compliance Conference 2026: Key Takeaways for Mainframe Security Leaders

The conversations at Vanguard Security & Compliance Conference 2026 made one thing clear: the mainframe security conversation is evolving beyond protection alone. As organizations accelerate modernization initiatives, adopt AI-enabled technologies, and prepare for emerging quantum risks, security and risk leaders are being challenged to demonstrate not only that controls exist, but that those controls are continuously operating as intended.

Rocket Software was proud to join senior cybersecurity, risk, and compliance leaders from across the industry to discuss the future of enterprise resilience and mainframe security.

A highlight of the event was Tim Hill's keynote, "Navigating Quantum and AI Risks in Mainframe Modernization.” The session explored how organizations can prepare for a future in which AI-driven threats, quantum advancements, regulatory expectations, and modernization efforts converge. The key takeaway: security strategies must evolve from point-in-time assessments to continuous validation and assurance.

• Additional Rocket-led sessions explored several of today's most pressing security topics, including:
• Securing Access in the Age of AI Adversaries
• How Security Aligns and Doesn't Align with Enterprise Risk Management Strategies
• Unpacking Mythos and Its Impact on Mainframe Vulnerability Management
• Emerging approaches to compliance, governance, and operational resilience

Throughout these discussions, a common theme emerged. The industry is moving beyond traditional notions of mainframe protection toward a more comprehensive approach to risk management. New sources of threat intelligence, including tools such as Mythos, are driving important conversations about visibility, vulnerability management, and evolving security risks. But security leaders remain accountable for a broader challenge: proving that critical controls are functioning as expected and demonstrating that evidence to auditors, regulators, executives, and boards.

This is where continuous assurance becomes essential.

Rocket's message at Vanguard centered on the principle behind Rocket z/Assurance: helping organizations continuously validate security controls, identify exposure before it becomes risk, and provide audit-ready evidence that safeguards are operating effectively. As organizations modernize critical systems, embrace AI, and prepare for a quantum future, confidence comes not from assuming controls are working, but from being able to prove it.

The future of mainframe security will be defined by organizations that can combine threat awareness, continuous validation, and demonstrable compliance into a unified risk management strategy. The conversations at Vanguard reinforced that security leaders are no longer being asked simply whether they have controls in place. Increasingly, they are being asked to prove those controls are working.