Winsurf Strengthens Web-to-Host Security
Ken Deats
ICOM Informatics (Austin, Texas), a wholly-owned subsidiary of ICOM Informatique located in Charenton, France, has announced a new version of its Web-to-host product, Winsurf Mainframe Access (WMA), which now includes the Winsurf Security Server (WSS). The WSS ensures secure exchanges between hosts (S/390, AS/400, Unix, DEC and Bull) and WMA clients via the Internet, extranet and intranet architectures.
Maintaining a secure transfer of data is accomplished because WSS operates at three different levels. Authentication exchanges an SSL 3.0-based digital certificate between the security server and the workstation to ensure authenticity of the link. Encryption of data exchanged between the emulator and the host uses RSA algorithms and the protocol selected is based on Telnet to allow entry through proxies, routers and firewalls. Last, data between the emulator and the host id digitally signed, ensuring that received or sent data has not been intercepted or modified.
“Security is essential when providing access to a company’s host-based data,” says Thierry Fondronnier, CEO of ICOM Informatique. “The security process is much more important as access to vital corporate information is made via intranets, extranets or the Internet. Our Winsurf 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. It is a standard feature of WMA, the Web-to-host component of ICOM’s e-Business suite of global connectivity products, which also includes an IBM host gateway server component, Winpass TNserver.