Top Secret
A security manager for z/OS from Broadcom, used by some sites instead of RACF or ACF2.
Also written CA Top Secret, TSS, ACID
Top Secret, sometimes shortened to TSS, is the third main security manager for z/OS, alongside RACF and ACF2. It is sold by Broadcom. Like the others, it works behind SAF, so z/OS and its subsystems ask the same questions whichever product answers them.
Its terms are its own. Every user, and every group of users, is an ACID, short for accessor ID. ACIDs are arranged in a structure of departments, divisions and zones that often matches the organisation. Resources are owned by a department, and access is given by adding permissions to an ACID or to a profile that many ACIDs share.
The goals are the same as with RACF: only the right people log on, each person can reach only what their job needs, and failures are logged.
If you move from a RACF site to a Top Secret site, the ideas will be familiar even though the commands and words are not. Job ads that ask for "mainframe security" experience usually accept any of the three.
Where can I learn this hands-on?
Right here, at ZedBank. You take a junior job at a simulated bank and learn each part of the work by doing it, with Zed beside you. There's nothing to install.
Start at ZedBankRelated
- SAFThe interface z/OS and its subsystems use to ask the security manager whether something is allowed.
- RACFThe security manager for z/OS, which decides who may sign on, read a dataset, or run a transaction.
- ACF2A security manager for z/OS from Broadcom, used by some sites instead of RACF.
- RACF user IDA person or program's identity on the system. Short, unique, and the basis of every access decision.
- Access levelHow much a user may do to a resource: read it, change it, or control it, with each level including the ones below.