IBM Introduces New Software and Services to Help Companies Fight the War Against Identity Theft

IBM’s Global Business Security Index Indicates Increase in ’Phishing’ Attacks

ARMONK, N.Y. -- June 7, 2005 -- IBM today announced new software and services to assist businesses in the fight against identity theft - a fast-growing global security threat that increasingly costs businesses lost revenue, time and productivity.

Increasingly sophisticated techniques are being used to capture and steal personal or financial data; methods such as phishing, pharming and various other malware scams have spurred a lucrative market that has emerged from the increase in buying, selling, and trading identities as commodities. In the last three months alone, approximately 15.5 million emails contained some form of phishing scam or attack; from April to May, the number of contaminated emails increased 70 percent, according to IBM’s Global Business Security Index.(a)

The first quarter of 2005 saw a rash of incidents where personal consumer data was stolen or improperly handled. In cases where personal data is stolen the ultimate danger is identity theft, where sensitive personal information is used without a victim’s knowledge to commit fraud or theft. According to the Federal Trade Commission, 9.3 million people in the U.S. were victims of identity theft last year; a recent survey indicates that the dollar impact of this form of crime was $52.6 billion in 2004.

IBM’s approach to this worldwide threat is both targeted and comprehensive, with additional focus on balancing the privacy needs of all parties. It advises businesses, educational institutions, and government agencies to enact stringent security measures to protect consumer and customer information wherever it may reside - in a database, computer, printer paper, or backup tapes. IBM helps businesses to create or improve security policies and apply security solutions across their enterprise to protect targeted data, physical assets, applications and networks.

Today, IBM is introducing new software and services as well as offering industry-specific business consulting expertise to help businesses cope with this global security threat.

IBM’s offerings include:

* IBM Tivoli Identity Manager Version 4.6 - new software to help companies securely manage user accounts and access to passwords
* Additional Identity Management Services with partner Viisage -- new services to help businesses prevent fraud and identity theft by helping them manage the process of identifying an individual and subsequently authenticating a user’s access to sensitive information; identity proofing allows credential issuing organizations to link to third-party data sources such as address databases and watch lists, and use biometrics to retrieve, verify, and validate a claimed identity through an analysis of breeder documents such as passports, drivers’ licenses, social security cards, birth certificates and biometrics

“Many businesses are consumed today trying to deal with security threats coming at them from every direction; It is impacting their ability to focus on their core business imperatives” said Cal Slemp, vice president, security and privacy services, IBM Global Services. “Many are facing risks associated with unauthorized employees or users gaining access to sensitive corporate data or personal information due to inadequate information management and security controls. The protection of a firm’s reputation and brand is directly linked to the secure management of data, the applications that use that data, its people and assets. Companies should embrace a holistic approach to evaluating and ensuring their business is secure.”

Tivoli Identity Manager Software
In today’s complex environments with thousands of users and a multitude of databases, applications and systems, automated identity management helps enterprises ensure the right people can access the right applications and infrastructure.

IBM introduces new capabilities in its Tivoli Identity Manager software to better capture user and account information and to simulate security policies, helping enterprises increase flexibility and improve visibility into their security management operations.

Tivoli Identity Manager helps automate the tedious manual process for enterprises to set up new accounts and passwords quickly for employees and customers, including the ability for users to reset and synchronize their own passwords. Enterprises can now more easily demonstrate who has access to what and how those policies are handled. New predefined, centralized reports on security policy, current access rights and audit events allow for increased business awareness and responsiveness to internal audits or regulatory mandates.

The new software also offers a new policy simulation feature provides powerful “what if” scenarios that take the guesswork out of changing security policies. For example, if an enterprise needs to restrict access to a financial application, IT staff can now simulate the change before implementing it to ensure that the right people retain access while the others are removed.

IBM Tivoli Identity Manager Version 4.6 will be generally available in the third quarter of this year; it will be priced on a per-user or per-processor basis.

Additional Identity Management Services
New services capabilities from IBM Global Services and Viisage help establish an initial identity for individuals enrolling or registering in new systems, linking these individuals with their breeder documents and biographical and biometric information before a credential is issued and privileges are associated with that credential. These new capabilities have applicability to various situations that utilize ID credentials such as: government IDs, financial services cards, health care cards, travel documents, and physical and logical access control. Other benefits include:

* Ability to produce an identity proofing recommendation based on unique intelligent analytics
* Provides an identity establishment link into IBM’s Tivoli Identity Manager
* Strengthens the verification of identities for privilege management such as building and network access
* Supports digital capture and storage of multiple pieces of data, images and biometrics
* Offers the production and issuance of tamper-resistant proof ID credentials

More information can be found by visiting www.ibm.com/security. For a complete glossary and definitions of the latest security threats, please visit: http://www-1.ibm.com/businesscenter/smb/us/en/xslpage/xmlid/25426.

(a) Graphic/Charts are available of IBM’s Global Business Security Index; MessageLabs contributed to report.

About IBM
IBM is the world’s largest information technology company, with 80 years of leadership in helping businesses innovate. IBM works with companies of all sizes around the world to deploy a full range of IBM technologies. For more information about IBM, visit www.ibm.com.

Contact Information

Kelli Gail

IBM Media Relations

IBM

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