Transitioning the mainframe out of legacy servers and into a browser-friendly environment requires assurance that the web-based alternative will be safe and reliable. Using an authorized mainframe terminal emulator, IT managers will have fewer security concerns, important at a time when the internet is constantly prone to malware and other harmful attachments.
Google is considering warning users against certain insecure sites, according to a post on the official Chrome blog. The company is specifically deciding whether or not it should use pop-up security alerts when browser customers tried to access an HTTP connection that was not registered as being secure.
Although some browser security measures exist, the company believes that they don't always work properly, and when they do, they don't make it clear enough what is happening. The post states that User Agents (UA's) could work harder to reveal when data is no longer protected. Google is currently discussing the proposal through various mailing lists and attempting to get industry players to comment on it.
"We all need data communication on the web to be secure (private, authenticated, untampered)," the statement reads. "When there is no data security, the UA should explicitly display that, so users can make informed decisions about how to interact with an origin." It also defines three possible security states for web origins, "secure," "dubious" and "non-secure," with the last pertaining to either HTTP sites or HTTPS sites that are broken.
As securing websites becomes more popular among companies afraid of a breach, the mainframe and all of its component software needs to be handled with care. Keep up with your legacy applications by being sure that they are compatible with the OS you use and will be accessible only in a safe online space.