Why 69% of IT Leaders Can't Rest Easy Over Data Security Concerns

Data security is the top reason IT leaders are lying awake at night. According to our 2026 IT Leaders Survey, 69% of technology executives report that securing their data estate is their most pressing concern.

As regulatory frameworks like the Digital Operational Resilience Act (DORA) and the New York State Department of Financial Services (NYDFS) cybersecurity regulations grow more complex, managing compliance is becoming increasingly difficult. This challenge is magnified as infrastructure stretches across on-premises, hybrid, and cloud environments. When visibility is limited, security vulnerabilities multiply.

For industries with critical security needs, you need a strategy that addresses these blind spots. Here is a look at the compliance gaps putting businesses at risk and how you can achieve true defense in depth.
 

What is driving the late-night escalations?

Organizations are modernizing rapidly, but incomplete access integrations quietly increase risk. When governance standards demand end-to-end visibility, relying on siloed systems leaves your organization vulnerable to internal and external threats.

Our survey identified three primary compliance blind spots that keep IT leaders up at night:

• Fragmented access management: 52% of IT leaders cite access control and identity management as a top challenge. Maintaining separate credentials across enterprise systems and mainframes creates operational friction. More importantly, it introduces significant security risks, making it difficult to verify exactly who is accessing your most critical applications.
• Compliance gaps in terminal emulators: 46% of respondents report data governance as a significant hurdle. Many traditional terminal emulators lack native integration with enterprise Identity and Access Management (IAM) platforms. These legacy access points create hidden vulnerabilities, making it nearly impossible to enforce modern security protocols on mainframe systems.
• Operational inefficiencies: 62% of IT leaders struggle with data quality and governance in hybrid environments. Siloed access systems make compliance audits incredibly complex and time-consuming. When your security teams must manually trace user activity across disjointed platforms, you increase the risk of audit failures and data breaches.

Wake up to a better solution with Rocket^® Secure Host Access

You can secure your foundational systems without disrupting your daily operations. Rocket^® Secure Host Access is a security-first terminal emulator that enables you to integrate green screen access with your existing IAM solutions.

By bridging the gap between legacy systems and modern security frameworks, Rocket Software helps you close compliance blind spots and reduce operational inefficiencies.

Here is how you can secure your environment:

• Unify access management: Extend your enterprise IAM to terminal emulators to create a single, seamless approach to access management across your entire organization. This integration enables strong multi-factor authentication (MFA) and ensures every user is properly verified before they reach the mainframe.
• Simplify operations: Consolidate desktop and web-based emulator administration into a single, centralized interface. This reduces the administrative burden on your IT teams, making it easier to manage user permissions, deploy updates, and monitor activity.
• Achieve audit excellence: Generate comprehensive audit trails and enforce centralized access control. With clear visibility into user sessions, you can easily prove compliance to regulators and significantly improve your audit scores.

Achieve compliance effortlessly

Managing access across a hybrid IT environment does not have to keep you awake at night. By extending modern security controls to your legacy systems, you can achieve 100% compliance adherence and drastically reduce the risk of unauthorized access.

Partner with Rocket Software to modernize and fortify your IT infrastructure. With seamless legacy integration and a user-friendly interface, you can enhance your security measures and ensure your organization is fully protected against emerging threats.