Planning Emergency Procedures › Software Problems

Software Problems

Loss of CA Top Secret files or major operating system errors can cause system failure. CA Top Secret protects itself from attack, and will, if necessary, disable the operating system before allowing unauthorized security bypasses to occur.

The following points may be useful in such a situation:

• CA Top Secret has secure means of bypassing selected parts of, or the entire, security system. Be familiar with them and test their operation occasionally. Be aware of the behavior the various facilities will show when bypasses are in effect and be prepared for them. For example, when being bypassed TSO signons revert to the use of the UADS password.
• CA Top Secret recovers all internal errors. Be sure that procedures exist for printing snap dumps taken by CA Top Secret and delivering this information to the proper systems areas in a timely fashion. A growing problem, such as a failing DASD controller assigned to the CA Top Secret files may go unnoticed because the dumps generated from CA Top Secret recovery are ignored.
• Most problems with CA Top Secret involve security authorizations not working in the manner expected. Have the Troubleshooting Guide available and a terminal present so that you can use CA Top Secret diagnostic tools when contacting customer support.
• If CA Top Secret has completely failed, a system IPL without CA Top Secret may be in order. IPL processes to accomplish this should be set up, but should only be known to a select group of trusted employees. If there is more than one CPU in your complex, this may be unnecessary if the unaffected CPU can be used to address the problem.
• Since any problem can occur off-hours, contact lists and phone numbers of your security personnel and for CA emergency support should be available.