Protecting IBM Mainframes with Illumio: A Practitioner’s Perspective

IBM mainframes have been the backbone of enterprise IT for decades.  

They’re the powerhouse behind essential applications in industries like banking, healthcare, and government. Known for their unmatched reliability, scalability, and performance, they handle massive amounts of transactions every day without skipping a beat.

But mainframes aren’t your average servers. Their unique setup brings its own set of security challenges. For cybersecurity practitioners, the Illumio Zero Trust Segmentation (ZTS) Platform paired with BMC AMI Enterprise Connector (eC) for Illumio offers a smart and scalable way to protect these critical systems.

Securing decades' old integrations with Illumio ZTS

From a security expert’s perspective, one of the biggest challenges with mainframes is their hybrid setup.  

These systems often have to bridge the gap between decades-old legacy technology and modern cloud infrastructures. That mix creates vulnerabilities mainframes weren’t originally built to handle.

Protecting these systems means not just securing the mainframe but also all its connections to today’s platforms. Illumio ZTS simplifies this by using microsegmentation to limit access to only what’s necessary. This way, even if an attacker gets in one part of the environment, they’re contained and can’t spread further into the network.

Simplify mainframe security with the Illumio and BMC AMI Enterprise Connector

Mainframe operating systems like IBM z/OS come with a steep learning curve. Most security pros are used to securing Windows or Linux environments. But mainframes are an entirely different beast.  

Why? Traditional tools often can’t provide visibility into mainframe traffic or understand its unique protocols.

That’s where Illumio and BMC AMI Enterprise Connector (eC) come in. The eC translates mainframe-specific traffic into a format Illumio can process. This gives you the same visibility and control over your mainframe as you have with the rest of your IT environment.  

It’s a game-changer, letting you apply consistent security policies without needing to master every nuance of z/OS.

Limit performance impact

Another big challenge for security teams is balancing protection with performance.  

Mainframes are built to be reliable and handle huge amounts of data fast. Any security measure that introduces latency or instability gets flagged right away.

With Illumio’s agentless architecture, there’s no risk of performance degradation.

For anyone responsible for operational uptime, knowing Illumio integrates into your network without making invasive changes to the mainframe is a huge relief. With BMC AMI eC, you get even deeper integration. This lets you enforce segmentation policies directly in the mainframe environment without sacrificing speed or stability.

Get granular visibility into your mainframe traffic flows and workloads

Visibility is a major challenge for security teams working with mainframes. These systems can feel like a black box, with traffic and workload interactions happening out of sight.  

That lack of transparency makes it hard to spot risks or figure out where to apply security controls.

Illumio changes that by making it easy to map traffic flows. The eC takes it a step further by extending this visibility to the mainframe.  

For practitioners, seeing east-west traffic within the mainframe environment isn’t just eye-opening — it’s empowering. It gives you the clarity you need to make smarter, more effective security decisions.

The Illumination Map gives you a clear view of traffic flows across your network. This makes it easier to set up policies that protect your applications.

The Illumination Map shows workloads as logical groups based on their labels and gives you a clear view of the traffic flowing between them. You can click on a group to see more details and create policies for its workloads.

The Illumination Map gives you a clear view of workloads and the traffic moving between them. Clicking on a flow reveals details like source and destination labels, IP addresses, ports, and more. With just one click, you can create a policy to allow those flows, making security setup quick and easy.

Bring Zero Trust to the mainframe

Illumio and BMC AMI eC makes Zero Trust actionable in mainframe environments.  

Instead of assuming trust in systems based on their location or type, Illumio enforces precise controls to allow only authorized traffic. For security teams, this means shifting from reactive to proactive protection.  

You don’t wait for vulnerabilities to be exploited — you actively segment and contain risks before they become a problem.

Keeping your mainframes resilient and secure

Protecting mainframes isn’t just about trusting their built-in strengths anymore. It’s about tackling the growing risks of hybrid environments and advanced threats head-on.  

Illumio and BMC AMI eC offer a powerful, integrated solution that makes securing mainframes easier. By adopting this innovative approach, you can ensure your mainframes stay not only powerful but also resilient and protected in today’s high-stakes world.

Contact us today to learn more about the Illumio and BMC AMI Enterprise Connector (eC).