IBM embraces zero trust with upgraded Cloud Pak service

IBM has taken the wraps off a version of its Cloud Pak for Security that aims to help customers looking to deploy zero-trust security facilities for enterprise resource protection.

IBM Cloud Paks are bundles of Red Hat’s Kubernetes-based OpenShift Container Platform along with Red Hat Linux and a variety of connecting technologies to let enterprise customers deploy and manage containers on their choice of private or public infrastructure, including AWS, Microsoft Azure, Google Cloud Platform, Alibaba and IBM Cloud.

IBM’s Cloud Pak for Security, which features among other things, open-source technology for hunting threats and automation capabilities to speed response to cyberattacks and can bring together on a single console data gathered by customers’ existing security point products.

IBM has added a Software as a Service (SaaS) version of Cloud Pak for Security that now includes security blueprints that offer a roadmap of security capabilities along with guidance on how to integrate them as part of a zero-trust architecture.

For example, an insider threat blueprint defines how companies can proactively manage insider threats by detecting user behavior anomalies, and enforcing security policies. New mobile threat detection in the form of behavior analytics support has been added to secure Android, Windows, iOS and Mac application and content security, IBM stated. That support comes from IBM’s Security MaaS360 with Watson system.

“Using a zero-trust approach makes it possible to support a workforce that can securely connect and work from anywhere, from any device, accessing data on any infrastructure,” Mary O’Brien, General Manager of IBM Security, wrote in a blog about zero trust.  “We can deliver dynamic and frictionless customer experiences founded on privacy and security or confidently migrate operations to the cloud by integrating security controls and demonstrating cross-domain visibility.”

Using these blueprints, organizations can use Cloud Pak for Security to define or limit user access to data and help reduce exposure in the event of compromise. This connection will help generate insights into data usage and privacy risk, enforce security policies, automate remediation responses as well as help organizations detect and respond efficiently to risk and compliance issues. Cloud Pak for Security is available now.

This latest version of IBM Cloud Pak for Security also includes a more extensive set of data-security capabilities from IBM Security Guardium service that Big Blue says prevents leaks from databases, data warehouses and Big Data environments such as Hadoop, ensures the integrity of information and automates compliance controls across heterogeneous environments.

The upgrade inlcudes a partnership with zero-trust security stalwart Zscaler that lets Big Blue dip its toe in the emerging Secure Access Service Edge (SASE).

Working with IBM Security Services group, which supports a variety of security components including the Cloud Pak, customers can implement SASE security services or other enterprise zerotrust initiatives, IBM said.

Specifically IBM is integrating Zscaler Private Access and Zscaler Internet Access secure web services with IBM security technologies to support a variety of tasks from access management and threat detection to remediation.

“The only way to truly secure today’s digital businesses is to adopt a zero-trust security model where validated user identity is combined with business policies for direct access to authorized applications and resources,”  Zscaler CEO Jay Chaudhry said in a statement.