ICOM Moves to Secure Winsurf Mainframe Access
Jim Martin
With security continuing to be a growing concern with organizations partaking in e-commerce, ICOM Informatics (Austin, Texas)--a wholly owned subsidiary of ICOM Informatique--announced that the newest version of its Web-to-host product, Winsurf Mainframe Access (WMA) now includes the Winsurf Security Server (WSS).
This newest feature ensures secure exchange between hosts, such as the AS/400, and WMA client workstations in Intranet, Extranet, and Internet architectures.
To protect the confidentiality of information, the WSS has three levels of security. The first level is authentication. Before connecting to the host, a digital certificate is exchanged between the security server and the user workstation to ensure authenticity of the link. The second level, encryption, uses RSA algorithms to ensure that data is not read by anyone except the intended receiver. The final level is digital signature, as data between the emulator and the host is digitally signed, ensuring that received or sent information has not been intercepted or modified.
“Security is essential when providing access to a company’s host-based data,” says Thierry Fondronnier, CEO of Informatique. “The security process is much more important as access of vital corporate information is made via Intranets, Extranets, or the Internet. In this context, our Windsurf Security Server, with its many levels of security, plays a crucial role in the IT architecture and reinforces the effectiveness of our Web-to-host solution.”
WSS can be installed on as many servers as necessary, connecting to one or more hosts. Flexible and easy to use, Winsurf Mainframe Access provides emulation of a broad range of IBM 3270 & 5250, DEC/UNIX and Bull terminals.