New Threat Detection and Response Capabilities from IBM, Powered by Advances in GenAI

By Alex Passett August 12, 2024

Howdy, readers. A whole bundle of Monday greetings to everybody reading this.

I closed out last week with a Friday special over on IoT Evolution World – our “ICYMI” (In Case You Missed It) Internet of Things/smart tech news recap. (Fellow writer/editor Greg Tavarez also pens his own informative ICYMIs for Future of Work and Cloud Computing, for those interested.)

And notably (particularly for a site like GenAI Today), my IoT article referenced IBM and its concentrated pursuit into all things artificial intelligence.

Let’s dive a bit deeper.

In IBM’s own words, “Unlike traditional computer programs, generative AI can augment human intelligence and help businesses achieve new levels of productivity.” IBM’s enterprise-grade AI (including its flagship watsonx AI and data platform) guides businesses with a variety of adaptive models that prioritize safety, governance and compliance; this is important, given how AI systems are permeating global industries, which can lead to abuses if left unchecked. IBM’s solutions are applicable for near-countless use cases. – GenAI-enhanced content creation, automated (and responsibly trained) chatbots for self-service support, efficient and complexity-removed coding via natural language inputs, retrieval-augmented generation (RAG) for curated data analysis, and much more.

Additionally, Tavarez and I saw firsthand how IBM is putting responsible AI to work during a keynote presentation at this past February’s ITEXPO 2024, led by IBM Program Director for Generative AI Research Kate Soule. On stage, Soule laid out the framework behind IBM’s data curation process for GenAI development; dataset acquisition and processing with aid from IBM Legal, IBM Procurement and its AI Ethics Board, namely. Soule went on to describe how “Our computing appetites are outstripping supply, and there are more toxic individuals entrusted with GenAI that frankly shouldn’t be. So, we’re studying how to keep fairness, trustworthiness and security alive in an AI-driven world.” (Read my full article about this keynote here.)

So, in this vein of responsibility-first AI usage (and, unfortunately, how it’s been known to fall into the wrong hands), we should also discuss how IBM announced just last week the introduction of new GenAI capabilities to its managed Thread Detection and Response (TDR) Services suite.

These TDR tools, inclusive of Managed Detection and Response (MDR) services, help teams protect their existing (and future) investments and enhance them with proactive, GenAI-unlocked cybersecurity. Built on watsonx, IBM’s TDR services – including the new IBM Consulting Cybersecurity Assistant – can automatically escalate or close “up to 85% of alerts,” according to IBM’s internal analysis of aggregated performance data from hundreds of client engagements.

Here's another way to look at it: By bringing together existing AI and automation expertise with new GenAI technologies, IBM's global security analysts can better comprehend critical threats via access to a generated timeline view of attack sequences, which helps speed up investigations and provides greater context for the recommended actions that follow. By analyzing patterns of historical, client-specific threat activity, IBM’s GenAI-powered TDR services speed up investigations while continuously learning from them in real time.

"As cyber incidents evolve from immediate crises to multi-dimensional and months-long events, security teams are facing the enduring challenge of too many attacks and not enough time or people to defend against them," explained Mark Hughes, Global Managing Partner of Cybersecurity Services, IBM Consulting. "By enhancing our Threat Detection and Response services with generative AI, we can reduce manual investigations and operational tasks for security analysts, empowering them to respond more proactively and precisely to critical threats, and helping to improve overall security posture for clients."

Overall, this seems like the GenAI capabilities added to IBM’s TDR will help drive a cycle of precise threat investigations; that’s big, as businesses continue to face a.) shortages when it comes to security resources, and b.) surpluses in vulnerabilities. Strengthening security operations is a must in today’s world, and that’s why this seems like a solid step in the right direction.