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

  • Video Surveillance Trends to Watch

    With more organizations adding newer capabilities to their surveillance systems, it’s always important to remember the “basics” of system configuration and deployment, as well as the topline benefits of continually emerging technologies like AI and the cloud. Read Now

  • New Report Reveals Top Trends Transforming Access Controller Technology

    Mercury Security, a provider in access control hardware and open platform solutions, has published its Trends in Access Controllers Report, based on a survey of over 450 security professionals across North America and Europe. The findings highlight the controller’s vital role in a physical access control system (PACS), where the device not only enforces access policies but also connects with readers to verify user credentials—ranging from ID badges to biometrics and mobile identities. With 72% of respondents identifying the controller as a critical or important factor in PACS design, the report underscores how the choice of controller platform has become a strategic decision for today’s security leaders. Read Now

  • Overwhelming Majority of CISOs Anticipate Surge in Cyber Attacks Over the Next Three Years

    An overwhelming 98% of chief information security officers (CISOs) expect a surge in cyber attacks over the next three years as organizations face an increasingly complex and artificial intelligence (AI)-driven digital threat landscape. This is according to new research conducted among 300 CISOs, chief information officers (CIOs), and senior IT professionals by CSC1, the leading provider of enterprise-class domain and domain name system (DNS) security. Read Now

  • ASIS International Introduces New ANSI-Approved Investigations Standard

    • Guard Services
  • Cloud Security Alliance Brings AI-Assisted Auditing to Cloud Computing

    The Cloud Security Alliance (CSA), the world’s leading organization dedicated to defining standards, certifications, and best practices to help ensure a secure cloud computing environment, today introduced an innovative addition to its suite of Security, Trust, Assurance and Risk (STAR) Registry assessments with the launch of Valid-AI-ted, an AI-powered, automated validation system. The new tool provides an automated quality check of assurance information of STAR Level 1 self-assessments using state-of-the-art LLM technology. Read Now

New Products

  • PE80 Series

    PE80 Series by SARGENT / ED4000/PED5000 Series by Corbin Russwin

    ASSA ABLOY, a global leader in access solutions, has announced the launch of two next generation exit devices from long-standing leaders in the premium exit device market: the PE80 Series by SARGENT and the PED4000/PED5000 Series by Corbin Russwin. These new exit devices boast industry-first features that are specifically designed to provide enhanced safety, security and convenience, setting new standards for exit solutions. The SARGENT PE80 and Corbin Russwin PED4000/PED5000 Series exit devices are engineered to meet the ever-evolving needs of modern buildings. Featuring the high strength, security and durability that ASSA ABLOY is known for, the new exit devices deliver several innovative, industry-first features in addition to elegant design finishes for every opening.

  • 4K Video Decoder

    3xLOGIC’s VH-DECODER-4K is perfect for use in organizations of all sizes in diverse vertical sectors such as retail, leisure and hospitality, education and commercial premises.

  • ResponderLink

    ResponderLink

    Shooter Detection Systems (SDS), an Alarm.com company and a global leader in gunshot detection solutions, has introduced ResponderLink, a groundbreaking new 911 notification service for gunshot events. ResponderLink completes the circle from detection to 911 notification to first responder awareness, giving law enforcement enhanced situational intelligence they urgently need to save lives. Integrating SDS’s proven gunshot detection system with Noonlight’s SendPolice platform, ResponderLink is the first solution to automatically deliver real-time gunshot detection data to 911 call centers and first responders. When shots are detected, the 911 dispatching center, also known as the Public Safety Answering Point or PSAP, is contacted based on the gunfire location, enabling faster initiation of life-saving emergency protocols.