IBM to Acquire Consul
IBM (NYSE: IBM) today announced it has entered into an agreement to acquire Consul risk management, Inc., a privately held software company headquartered in Delft, Netherlands, with a principal office in Herndon, Virginia. Financial details were not disclosed. The acquisition is subject to regulatory approvals and is anticipated to close in the first quarter of the 2007 calendar year. Upon approval, Consul will become part of IBM’s Tivoli software unit. Consul is a leading provider of compliance and security audit software that helps clients track, report and investigate non-compliant behavior, such as unauthorized activity by information technology (IT) administrators or other users.
This acquisition strengthens IBM’s Service Management initiative by adding key data governance and compliance monitoring, auditing and reporting capabilities across mainframe and distributed environments, a unique capability unmatched by other competitors. Many companies are unclear which of their employees need access to certain sensitive information sources, such as personal health records or a company’s finances. According to a recent industry report, 86 percent of internal security incidents are perpetrated by a company’s most privileged and technical users — such as IT administrators, vendors, consultants, or other users. [1] Left unchecked, privileged user activities can violate compliance policies and potentially lead to incidents of identity theft.
Consul provides an “auditor-in-a-box” for compliance initiatives by using a single management technology dashboard. Consul’s monitoring and auditing capabilities cover a wide array of systems, applications and resources, including IBM’s mainframe environment. The technology provides powerful visibility of insider threats and specific reporting designed to help address customers’ compliance activities related to various regulations such as Sarbanes-Oxley and HIPAA [2]. This technology complements IBM’s existing security information and event management capabilities to offer clients a portfolio of solutions that can monitor, audit and report on both users and technology.
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