ARMONK, N.Y., Dec. 6, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- IBM Security
(NYSE: IBM) today announced that global leaders in banking,
healthcare, insurance, education and other key industries have
joined the IBM Watson for Cyber Security beta program. Sun Life
Financial, University of Rochester Medical Center, Avnet, SCANA
Corporation, Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation, California
Polytechnic State University, University of
New Brunswick and Smarttech will be amongst 40
organizations testing Watson's
ability to assist in the battle against cybercrime.
Today's increasingly challenging security environment has
created the need for more intelligence to identify and prioritize
threats, which is in turn increasing the workload of security
analysts with more alerts and anomalies to process than ever.
Watson for Cyber Security uses
intelligent technologies like machine learning and natural language
processing, which can help security analysts make better, faster
decisions from vast amounts of data.
A recent study from the IBM Institute for Business Value shows
that nearly 60 percent of security professionals believe emerging
cognitive technologies will be a critical part of changing the
tides in the war on cybercrime.1
"Customers are in the early stages of implementing cognitive
security technologies," said Sandy
Bird, Chief Technology Officer, IBM Security. "Our research
suggests this adoption will increase three fold over the next three
years, as tools like Watson for
Cyber Security mature and become pervasive in security operations
centers. Currently, only seven percent of security professionals
claim to be using cognitive solutions."
IBM Watson for Cyber Security Beta Program Underway
Watson for Cyber Security takes
advantage of IBM's leading cognitive technology, which is being
trained to understand the unique language of security. By applying
intelligent technologies like machine learning and natural language
processing, Watson can help
security analysts make better decisions from structured data, as
well as the massive amount of unstructured data that has been dark
to an organization's defenses until now.
Fortune 500 companies and organizations spanning industries such
as finance, travel, energy, automotive and education are currently
working with Watson for Cyber
Security, helping to refine Watson's cyber security capabilities and pilot
real-world use cases. Avnet, California Polytechnic State
University, SCANA Corporation, Smarttech, Sun Life Financial,
Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation, University of New Brunswick and University of Rochester Medical Center are amongst
the first set of customers already working with Watson for Cyber Security as part of the
initial beta program. The beta program will increase to 40
companies in coming weeks.
These beta customers are leveraging Watson in their current security environments
to bring additional context to their cyber security data, with new
use cases such as:
- Determining whether or not a current security "offense" is
associated with a known malware or cybercrime campaign; if so,
Watson can provide background on
the malware employed, vulnerabilities exploited and scope of the
threat, among other insights.
- Better identifying suspicious behavior; Watson provides additional context to user
activity outside of the primary suspicious behavior, which can
provide better guidance to whether or not an activity is
malicious.
Working with these beta customers, IBM is continuing to enhance
Watson's understanding of the
cyber security data and refine how Watson can seamlessly integrate into day to
day security operations.
Study Shows Cognitive Security on the Rise
The IBM
Institute for Business Value recently surveyed over 700 security
professionals to gauge perspectives on the challenges, benefits and
opportunities for cognitive security technologies.
Nearly 60 percent of those surveyed believe that cognitive
technologies will mature soon enough to significantly slow down
cybercriminals in the near future. While only 7 percent said their
organizations are currently in the process of implementing
cognitive security solutions, 21 percent said they will implement
these solutions over the next 2-3 years, representing a 3x increase
in adoption.
Security professionals also said that the top benefit they
expect to see from cognitive technologies is improved detection and
incident response decision-making capabilities, which was indicated
by 40 percent of respondents. Currently, the average data breach
takes organizations an average of 201 days to identify and an
average of 70 days to contain.2 Security professionals
expect cognitive to play a big part in reducing this time by
providing them with better data to make fast decisions.
To download the full report, visit: ibm.biz/cyberimmunity
Expanding Cognitive and Intelligence across IBM Security
Portfolio; Investing in World-class Skills
As development
of Watson for Cyber Security
continues, IBM continues to build more advanced analytics and
cognitive capabilities into other areas of its security portfolio,
as well as its deep bench of world-class security professionals,
including the following:
- Applying behavioral analytics to better understand the usage
patterns of insiders—employees, contractors and partners—and to
determine if their credentials have been compromised, via IBM
QRadar User Behavior Analytics.
- Using patented analytics, machine learning and behavioral
biometrics capabilities to help prevent banking fraud with IBM
Trusteer Pinpoint Detect, which analyzes how users interact with
banking websites, creating gesture models that can become
increasingly more accurate over time.
- Leveraging machine learning to help clients find potential
vulnerabilities in their applications faster with IBM Security
AppScan
- Visualizing data access in a single 3D view empowers security
teams to detect and flag suspicious activities before they turn
into a breach, using IBM Security Guardium
- Hiring nearly 2,000 experts into its Security business,
including more than 600 in the U.S., in the past two years,
including world-class developers, consultants, and research
professionals.
About IBM Security
IBM Security offers one of the most advanced and integrated
portfolios of enterprise security products and services. The
portfolio, supported by world-renowned IBM X-Force® research,
enables organizations to effectively manage risk and defend against
emerging threats. IBM operates one of the world's broadest security
research, development and delivery organizations, monitors 35
billion security events per day in more than 130 countries, and
holds more than 3,000 security patents. For more information,
please visit www.ibm.com/security, follow @IBMSecurity on Twitter
or visit the IBM Security Intelligence blog.
Required Disclaimer Language: IBM's
statements regarding its plans, directions, and intent are subject
to change or withdrawal without notice at IBM's sole
discretion. Information
regarding potential future products is intended to outline our
general product direction and it should not be relied on in making
a purchasing decision. The information mentioned regarding
potential future products is not a commitment, promise, or legal
obligation to deliver any material, code or functionality.
Information about potential future products may not be incorporated
into any contract. The development, release, and timing of any
future features or functionality described for our products remains
at our sole discretion. -
Media Relations Contact:
Cassy Lalan
IBM Security Communications
319-230-2232
cllalan@us.ibm.com
1 IBM Institute of Business Value Study:
Cybersecurity in the Cognitive Era
2 IBM / Ponemon Cost of a Data Breach study, 2016
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SOURCE IBM Corporation