IBM To Acquire Security Intelligence Provider Q1 Labs

IBM has announced a definitive agreement to acquire privately held Q1 Labs, a Waltham, Massachusetts-based provider of security intelligence software.

The move aims to accelerate IBM’s efforts to help clients more intelligently secure their enterprises by applying analytics to correlate information from key security domains and creating security dashboards for their organizations.

Financial terms were not disclosed.

Following the close of the acquisition, Q1 Labs will join the newly-formed IBM Security Systems division, representing the world’s most comprehensive security portfolio.  After the close, IBM intends the new division to be led by Brendan Hannigan, CEO of Q1 Labs.

The new division will target a $94 billion opportunity in security software and services, which has a nearly 12 percent compound annual growth rate, according to IBM estimates.

Q1 Labs will join the more than 10 strategic security acquisitions IBM has made in the last decade and the more than 25 analytics-related purchases, including the recently announced acquisition of security analytics software firm, i2.

Organizations face a landscape with high-impact corporate breaches, growing mobile security concerns and advanced security threats, as highlighted in last week’s IBM X-Force Mid-Year Trend and Risk Report.

Firms must be equipped to identify threats, detect insider fraud, predict business risk and address regulatory mandates. Three quarters of firms feel cyberattacks are hard to detect and their effectiveness would increase with end-to-end solutions, according to a recent industry report.

Q1 Labs’ advanced analytics and correlation capabilities can automatically detect and flag actions across an enterprise that deviate from prescribed policies and typical behavior to help prevent breaches, such as an employee accessing unauthorized information.

“Since perimeter defense alone is no longer capable of thwarting all threats, IBM is in a unique position to shift security thinking to an integrated, predictive approach,” said Brendan Hannigan, CEO of Q1 Labs. “Q1 Labs’ security analytics will add greater intelligence to IBM’s security portfolio and continue to distinguish IBM from competitors.”

IBM operates the world’s broadest security research and development organization, comprising nine security operations centers, nine IBM Research centers, 11 software security development labs and three Institutes for Advanced Security.

It employs thousands of security experts globally such as security operations analysts, consultants, sales and tech specialists, and strategic outsourcing delivery professionals.  IBM monitors 12 billion security events per day in more than 130 countries and holds 3,000 security patents. IBM has been in the security business for nearly 50 years dating back to the security innovation in its mainframe systems.

You can learn more about IBM’s security offerings here.