SAN FRANCISCO – As enterprise applications and business operations digitally transform, more businesses are adopting cloud infrastructures, IoT technologies, and increasing their consumption of software-as-a-service (SaaS).

However, the urge to digitally transform has also put businesses at greater risk for breaches from unauthorized users, malware attacks, and many other threats. Not only are businesses’ level of risk increased, but these attacks and breaches are also growing and getting more sophisticated, according to the majority of keynotes and speakers at RSA Conference 2022.

In fact, 67% of business organizations saw their external attack surface expand over the past two years due to the rising use of cloud, third-party services, IoT, and cyber-phyiscal systems, IBM’s vice president of product management and development, Justin Youngblood, told SDxCentral during an interview at the conference.

In the past year alone, 69% of businesses have been compromised by unknown, unmanaged, or poorly managed internet-facing assets, he added.

IBM is working to tackle this concerning issue, and one of its most recent efforts was the acquisition of Randori, an attack surface management (ASM) and offensive cybersecurity provider, which the company announced on the first day of RSAC.

By acquiring Randori, IBM will get a better understanding of the hacker’s perspective by discovering the entire depth of the attack surface, according to Youngblood.

This is important because “as of right now, no organization has a complete understanding of their attack surface. They only know it in bits and pieces,” he said.

Once the acquisition is complete, IBM plans to integrate Randori’s ASM software with the extended detection and response capabilities of its own Security QRadar. In turn, Randori’s ASM software will also strengthen IBM’s hybrid cloud infrastructure, noted the company in the press release about the deal.

Along with the acquisition, IBM has been working closely with government agencies like the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) to find better security and privacy solutions. IBM also helped co-author and influence what NIST has published around cybersecurity standards and frameworks.

Finally, the big tech firm has invested in a project with McAfee called Open Cybersecurity Alliance (OCA) to set security standards and provide better security and privacy to all users.

The project aims to connect the fragmented cybersecurity landscape and enable disparate security products to freely exchange information, out of the box, using mutually agreed upon technologies, standards, and procedures.

Some of the companies that have joined IBM and Mcfaee in this project are Corsa, CrowdStrike, CyberArk, Cybereason, DFLabs, EclecticIQ, Electric Power Research Institute, Fortinet, Indegy, and New Context.