21CS Joins the Sheltered Harbor Alliance to Help Bolster U.S. Financial System Resilience

BOSTON, November 8, 2023 (Newswire.com) - 21CS, a leading mainframe resiliency expert and software developer, proudly announces its partnership with Sheltered Harbor, the not-for-profit organization dedicated to safeguarding confidence in the U.S. financial system in the case of a devastating cyberattack. This partnership marks a significant milestone in the quest for enhancing the resilience and security of critical financial infrastructure.

In an era marked by increased data breaches and cyber threats, the need for standards for consumer data protection and rapid access to funds has never been more crucial. Industry-led Sheltered Harbor has been at the forefront of creating and implementing these vital standards.

Most of the financial markets in the United States run critical processes on mainframes – in fact, according to IBM, 44 of the top 50 banks in the world run on IBM Z Mainframes. As an organization passionate about ensuring the resiliency of these mainframe systems, 21CS joins Sheltered Harbor as the first Alliance Partner focused on providing mainframe resilience solutions.

21CS's flagship solution, IZBR, offers organizations the tools required to identify critical datasets stored in a secure data vault and execute precise, surgical data recovery. This product will play a pivotal role in proving compliance and certification with Sheltered Harbor's and other global resiliency standards. Additionally, 21CS's developed solution zDMF can help organizations implement the stringent encryption requirements for isolated data stipulated in the Sheltered Harbor standard.

Nicholas Pachnos, 21CS’s CEO, stated, "We consider Sheltered Harbor to be a key initiative to safeguard the U.S. Financial System, and 21CS is proud to represent the interests of the mainframe ecosystem in the alliance." Carlos Recalde, President and CEO of Sheltered Harbor, said, “We look forward to working with 21CS to help identify how the IZBR product and 21CS’s services can help to expedite proper vaulting of a financial institution’s most critical data. Identification of the source and verification of the data’s provenance is one of the earliest challenges to the proper protection of isolated copies of that data.

Sheltered Harbor was established to protect customers, financial institutions, and public confidence in the financial system during catastrophic events, including cyberattacks, which could compromise critical systems and backups. The organization's core elements, developed in collaboration with industry experts, encompass data vaulting, resiliency planning, and certification. Currently, participating institutions collectively hold 72% of deposit accounts and 71% of brokerage client accounts in the United States.

21CS's partnership with Sheltered Harbor signifies a joint commitment to fortify the financial system's resilience and protect the interests of consumers and institutions alike. By aligning their expertise and resources, both organizations aim to set new benchmarks for data security and disaster recovery within the financial sector.

About 21CS

21CS delivers innovative solutions essential for mission-critical operations across the business and IT spectrum. Since being founded nearly 30 years ago, the company has been recognized for its leadership in developing software that ensures data protection, recovery and migration, and comprehensive performance capacity planning.

About Sheltered Harbor

Sheltered Harbor’s purpose is to promote the stability and resiliency of the financial sector and preserve public confidence in the financial system when a catastrophic event like a cyberattack causes an institution's critical systems — including its backups — to fail. Sheltered Harbor LLC is a financial industry not-for-profit organization, founded by 34 financial institutions, clearing houses, core processing providers, and industry associations. https://shelteredharbor.org
 

Source: 21CS