IBM Makes Makes Big Data Security Push

IBM is no stranger to Big Data analytics. It also has no qualms about taking its prowess to new levels.  This time, the Armonk, N.Y. hardware provider is adding security intelligence to that equation. And it’s launch that could bolster its already well-established security play, but pit it strongly against security players RSA, the security division of EMC, and others attempting to carve out their own niches in the burgeoning market.

The company launched IBM Security Intelligence with Big Data, and as its name suggests, the solution amalgamates the two under one roof with a mission of combatting external cyber threats and curbing internal risk.

Ostensibly, the combination of security intelligence and Big Data technologies opens up the scope of insight to new data types, which allows organizations to more accurately weed through Big Data and better detect malicious activity.

The solution essentially marries three core functions: real-time correlation and anomaly detection, custom analytics and forensics. Broken down, that incorporates the real-time security correlation and anomaly detection capabilities embedded in the IBM QRadar Security Intelligence Platform along with custom analysis technologies provided by IBM InfoSphere BigInsights.

And other key capabilities include high-speed querying of security intelligence data, flexible big data analytics, graphical front-end tools and forensic technologies intended to achieve better visibility into network activity.

The result is a solution that offers intelligence monitoring and alerting, which in turn provides a solid foundation for security solution providers and consultants to incorporate a wide array of unique and high-margin threat detection, reporting and security forensic services into their portfolios.

“Leveraging assets from across IBM, we are on a relentless push to expand the scope of our security intelligence capabilities for clients,” said Brendan Hannigan, IBM Security Systems Division general manager. “Our goal is to provide actionable insight into every bit of data, no matter where it resides across the network, and help clients learn from past activity to better secure the future.”

Meanwhile, the launch represents a logical extension of IBMs hard drive into Big Data analytics. And IBM’s aggressive push into Big Data arenas has merit A Transparency Market Research report indicated that Big Data analytics market was worth $6.3 billion 2012, but is projected to reach $48.3 billion by 2018, representing a CAGR of around 41 percent. Meanwhile, Gartner estimates the Big Data market to drive $232 billion in IT spending by 2016.

Subsequently, it’s a market that IBM won’t be abandoning any time soon. Thus far, IBM is hailed as a business intelligence market leader in Gartner’s Magic Quadrant. But with rising tide of Big Data solutions on the market and aggressive competitors vying for a piece of the space, IBM knows it needs to take its solutions to the next level.  And that next level happens to be security.

Again, that’s a pretty safe bet for IBM. With its Tivoli brand, IBM is already a strong player in security markets. Meanwhile, by almost all reports, the cyber security market is set for exponential growth spike, with one Visiongain report projecting the market to reach $68.34 billion some time in 2013. And other reports offer similar statistics.

That said, IBM is far from the only firm to be applying Big Data intelligence to security endeavors. And one of IBM’s biggest competitors in this space will be RSA, the security division of EMC, which is emerging as no small challenger. Perhaps not coincidentally, the Boston-based identity and access management firm recently unveiled its own security analytics tool last week, and will likely continue to be a thorn in IBMs side as the market continues to expand.

IBM has many advantages that competitors don’t. But it has very little room to get comfortable, and will likely need to be looking over its shoulder constantly as RSA and others start nipping at its heels.