IBM to acquire Trusteer

IBM has announced a definitive agreement to acquire Trusteer, a leading provider of software that helps protect organizations against financial fraud and advanced security threats. The acquisition of Trusteer advances the investment IBM is making in cloud-delivered software and services. Financial terms were not disclosed.

As part of this announcement, IBM is forming a cybersecurity software lab in Israel that will bring together more than 200 Trusteer and IBM researchers and developers to focus on mobile and application security, advanced threat, malware, counter-fraud, and financial crimes. This lab is an addition to IBM’s existing research and development facilities in Israel.

With offices located in Boston and Tel Aviv, Israel, Trusteer helps hundreds of organizations including many financial institutions protect Web applications, employee and customer computers, and mobile devices from threats. Cybercriminals are becoming increasingly efficient in creating and deploying attacks to bypass existing security controls.

Trusteer software can identify security threats that can be missed by traditional security software. For example, to help ensure that banking customers can safely transfer money on a mobile device, Trusteer software performs detection of malware that can infect a smartphone, enabling the bank to take steps to prevent fraudulent behavior and account takeover before the transaction occurs. Seven of the top 10 U.S. banks and nine of the top 10 U.K. banks use Trusteer’s solutions to help secure customer accounts against financial fraud and cyber attacks.

“Trusteer’s expertise and superior technology in enterprise endpoint defense and advanced malware prevention will help our clients across all industries address the constantly evolving threats they are facing,” said Brendan Hannigan, General Manager, Security Systems Division, IBM. “Together with IBM’s capabilities in advanced threat detection, analysis and remediation, we will now be able to offer our clients several additional layers of defense against sophisticated attackers.”

“The way organizations protect data is quickly evolving,” said Mickey Boodaei, CEO, Trusteer. “As attacks become more sophisticated, traditional approaches to securing enterprise and mobile data are no longer valid. Trusteer has helped hundreds of large banks and organizations around the world defeat thousands of sophisticated attacks using innovative solutions that combine intelligence, cloud, mobile, and desktop technologies.”

Among the capabilities Trusteer will bring to the IBM security portfolio:
Security as a Service Delivered through the Cloud
Cloud-delivered security solutions by Trusteer will complement more than 100 Software as a Service (SaaS) solutions offered by IBM. In addition to traditional IT solutions, Trusteer leverages SaaS architecture to enable protected PCs, desktops, smartphones and tablets to rapidly adapt against emerging threats. Because Trusteer software can be delivered through the cloud, organizations can receive accurate, real-time updates on malicious activities and the latest threats, better protecting data from fraud and compromise.

Comprehensive Counter-Fraud and Advanced Persistent Threat (APT) Protection
Trusteer's cybersecurity protection can scale to help protect tens of millions of endpoints, including smartphones and tablets. One of the primary targets of malware attacks are consumer endpoints. Malware installed on a bank customer’s PC or smartphone, for example, can generate fraudulent transactions. Additionally, malware and phishing can help attackers steal credentials and other personal data. Financial malware and fraudulent activity can be identified and removed using solutions from Trusteer.

The acquisition of Trusteer will complement IBM’s advanced portfolio of counter- fraud software and services, including QRadar, i2, SPSS, InfoSphere and Enterprise Content Management. These capabilities offer predictive, content and investigative analytics to help prevent and solve cases of fraud for private and public sector organizations.

Helping to Secure Mobile Transactions
Of the top 25 US financial institutions, about half are offering mobile person-to-person transfers and mobile remote deposit capabilities, a figure that has more than doubled since 2011. This steady increase in adoption is putting the mobile channel in the crosshairs of account takeover attacks that are launched using credentials stolen from customers via phishing and malware attacks. Trusteer can help provide account takeover prevention, compromised device detection, complex device fingerprinting and a global fraudster database.

Cybersecurity Software Lab
IBM is also announcing that it will combine its Israeli software security research and development team along with Trusteer’s research and development team in Tel Aviv to form an IBM Cybersecurity Software Lab. This lab will focus on mobile and application security, as well as advanced fraud and malware detection. Trusteer’s research and global expertise in fraud intelligence and malware helps provide organizations with protection in a constantly evolving threat landscape. This is done by analyzing data gathered from more than 30 million endpoints, using data analytics to develop real-time, actionable intelligence that will be incorporated into IBM’s security products and services.