IBM Attacks the Complexity of Security with Identity Intelligence

IBM recently announced a new identity intelligence breakthrough designed in IBM labs to provide corporations with a far more sophisticated approach to managing the information employees can access.

An employee's unauthorized access to client information can leave a firm vulnerable to security breaches and audits. Many companies juggle the administration of identifying, managing and approving employee access, some of whom have roles that require different levels of access to financial, personnel or sales and customer data, and can change during the course of a year.

To meet that challenge, IBM is unveiling advanced analytics software called Security Role and Policy Modeler.  Based on IBM Research innovation, the software analyzes employee data and recommends a finite set of roles to better secure an organization and manage compliance. The analytics can flag abnormal behavior, inconsistencies in role access and expired user access.

For example, a 10,000-employee hospital may allow administrators only to have certified access to financial and human resource systems. Their access must be revoked as their roles change within the organization. The Security Role and Policy Modeler evaluates all 10,000 user identities across the hospital and narrows those down to 100 roles such as 'administrator.'  This reduces costs and complexity to manage security.

"With the rise of cloud and mobile access, it's no surprise that identity management has become such a hot button to clients," said Marc van Zadelhoff, vice president strategy and product management, IBM Security Systems. "If an organization doesn't know who has access to their data, how can meet compliance regulations, let alone be secure?  Today's news shows how IBM is applying its advanced intelligence to solve the most complex security issues."

Bharti Airtel and Cognizant Tap IBM's New Software

Bharti Airtel, the top telecommunications provider in India, and Cognizant, an IT consulting and business process outsourcing in the U.S., are already seeing the benefits of the new software.

"The new IBM offering will provide greater insight to our role modeling and lifecycle management that is so critical to allowing our employees, partners and third parties to securely access data they are authorized to," said Felix Mohan, Global Chief Information Security Officer, Bharti Airtel. "Using the intelligence and automation of the Role and Policy Modeler, we can manage our identity and roles much more efficiently and effectively."

"One of the first steps of a secure enterprise is knowing what your own employees have access to," said Barry Miracle, director of Digital Security, Cognizant. "With IBM's new identity management software, I will have better insight across the company into roles and identities of who is accessing particular applications or databases, making our compliance reporting more efficient."

Security Role and Policy Modeler is now available as part of IBM's software for policy-based identity and access management governance offering. The new software allows companies to efficiently collect, clean up, correlate, certify, and report on identity and access configurations.  Specific new functions include:

  • Scoring metrics and analytics that give business users the ability to produce a more effective role and access structure. Users can be identified by specific role they play in an organization.  For  example, a marketing team manager can only allow employees to access marketshare data but not human resources information.
  • Clearer view into the role structure - such as organizational hierarchy charts, and access exceptions due to business needs - that can be managed throughout the users' lifecycle. For example, if an employee moves from one department or function to another, that employee can be assigned--or restricted from - accessing particular applications or business assets based on their role structure within the organization.
  • Single web-based interface to create, apply and validate roles that have multiple members.  For example, a "physician" can be the group role and "cardiologist" or "radiologist" is the member role. Each role can be assigned different access and can be mined to identify outlying behavior and validated for violations.

Featured

  • Maximizing Your Security Budget This Year

    Perimeter Security Standards for Multi-Site Businesses

    When you run or own a business that has multiple locations, it is important to set clear perimeter security standards. By doing this, it allows you to assess and mitigate any potential threats or risks at each site or location efficiently and effectively. Read Now

  • New Research Shows a Continuing Increase in Ransomware Victims

    GuidePoint Security recently announced the release of GuidePoint Research and Intelligence Team’s (GRIT) Q1 2024 Ransomware Report. In addition to revealing a nearly 20% year-over-year increase in the number of ransomware victims, the GRIT Q1 2024 Ransomware Report observes major shifts in the behavioral patterns of ransomware groups following law enforcement activity – including the continued targeting of previously “off-limits” organizations and industries, such as emergency hospitals. Read Now

  • OpenAI's GPT-4 Is Capable of Autonomously Exploiting Zero-Day Vulnerabilities

    According to a new study from four computer scientists at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, OpenAI’s paid chatbot, GPT-4, is capable of autonomously exploiting zero-day vulnerabilities without any human assistance. Read Now

  • Getting in Someone’s Face

    There was a time, not so long ago, when the tradeshow industry must have thought COVID-19 might wipe out face-to-face meetings. It sure seemed that way about three years ago. Read Now

    • Industry Events
    • ISC West

Featured Cybersecurity

Webinars

New Products

  • ComNet CNGE6FX2TX4PoE

    The ComNet cost-efficient CNGE6FX2TX4PoE is a six-port switch that offers four Gbps TX ports that support the IEEE802.3at standard and provide up to 30 watts of PoE to PDs. It also has a dedicated FX/TX combination port as well as a single FX SFP to act as an additional port or an uplink port, giving the user additional options in managing network traffic. The CNGE6FX2TX4PoE is designed for use in unconditioned environments and typically used in perimeter surveillance. 3

  • AC Nio

    AC Nio

    Aiphone, a leading international manufacturer of intercom, access control, and emergency communication products, has introduced the AC Nio, its access control management software, an important addition to its new line of access control solutions. 3

  • HD2055 Modular Barricade

    Delta Scientific’s electric HD2055 modular shallow foundation barricade is tested to ASTM M50/P1 with negative penetration from the vehicle upon impact. With a shallow foundation of only 24 inches, the HD2055 can be installed without worrying about buried power lines and other below grade obstructions. The modular make-up of the barrier also allows you to cover wider roadways by adding additional modules to the system. The HD2055 boasts an Emergency Fast Operation of 1.5 seconds giving the guard ample time to deploy under a high threat situation. 3