RSA 2010: IBM touts new security tools and services

IBM promises to help critical infrastructure providers stay on top of the threat landscape

IBM has used the RSA 2010 conference in San Francisco to unveil a number of security offerings designed to help governments and businesses secure critical infrastructures.

The company claimed that as its own research shows, cyber criminals are launching increasingly sophisticated attacks against government, energy, health, banking, transportation and other industries, highlighting the need for more comprehensive security.

"Businesses and governments around the world are making bold investments in new technologies and processes that make them more efficient, agile and competitive," said Al Zollar, general manager for Tivoli Software at IBM.

"These investments enable new possibilities, but they also create new complexities and new risks to critical infrastructure, privacy and identity. With today's announcements, we demonstrate our ability to partner and innovate to overcome existing and emerging threats."

The new systems, tools and services range from gateway security to a management firewall.

IBM said that its Secure Web Gateway Service 2.0 will help firms mitigate against web-based threats, while a bundled Managed Firewall and Unified Threat Management service offers protection for a monthly fee.

Lotus Protector for Mail Encryption, meanwhile, provides a range of new features for shoring up email and messaging.

IBM also announced identity management tools and a compliance system, as well as AppScan Source Edition, which the firm said will scan source code and identify potential security and compliance vulnerabilities in "the earliest stages of development when they are less expensive to correct".

A comprehensive report by security giant McAfee in January found that attacks on critical infrastructure IT systems are widespread and growing in frequency, and could cost over $6m (£3.7m) a day on average.