In my last newsletter, I covered the auditing, password composition rule, and other miscellaneous enhancements provided in V7R2. This month, the focus is on the security enhancements associated with DB2, specifically Row and Column Access Control (RCAC).

RCAC brings the security implementation more into line with other DB2 implementations and provides administrators with a way to filter what information is available without having to develop and manage logical files. As one might imagine from the name, there are two aspects to RCAC-what can happen at the row level and what can happen at the column level. At the row level, you can select which users (or groups) see which records. The column controls allow you to mask data or show the entire field. For example, users belonging to the HR group get to see full Social Security numbers, but everyone else sees a masked value. We'll talk more specifics in a minute, but this gives you an idea of the functions of each. If it's not obvious, let me say that this is powerful stuff. However, it does take significant planning before implementation. So the focus of this newsletter is to help you understand the implications of and plan for the security aspects of an RCAC implementation.