The Latest From IBM Security

IBM this week announced an array of security services updates that support its partner-driven push to achieve leadership in the hybrid cloud market, the company and solution providers said. Cloud security specialists face the difficult task of safe-guarding information across multiple clouds that are frequently updated, not to mention potential confusion over when a cloud provider is responsible for certain security measures and when the cloud user is responsible, said Vikram Chhabra, global director of offering management and strategy at IBM Security Services, in a news release announcing the updates.

“Cloud security can appear daunting, with defenders facing an expansive attack surface, shared responsibility models and rapidly evolving cloud platforms and tools,” Chhabra said. “We cannot assume that legacy approaches for security will work in this new operating model – instead, security should be modernized specifically for the hybrid cloud era, with a strategy based on zero trust principles that bring together context, collaboration and visibility across any cloud environment.”

IBM is seeking to ramp up its hybrid cloud business through a simplified sales structure, which launched earlier this year under the leadership of CEO Arvind Krishna and brings a renewed emphasis on partners. “We made tens of billions and they made hundreds of millions in aggregate over the decades,” said Krishna in a recent interview with CRN, referring to IBM’s mainframe and middleware software success teaming with partners in the past. “I would like to see our hybrid cloud platform be as big or bigger than any of those.”

With the latest IBM Security launch, the updates will help to enhance the work that partners are doing around securing cloud and hybrid cloud environments for customers, said Chandler Howell, director of engineering services at Chicago-based solution provider Nexum. “Customers are looking for clear guidance and explanation for their security transformation,” which the IBM Security launches should assist partners with providing, Howell told CRN.

What follows are details on four new IBM Security updates aimed at enhancing its cloud and hybrid cloud offerings.