IBM Acquiring Randori to Ramp Up Cybersecurity

IBM is stepping up its cybersecurity innovation with the acquisition of attack surface management (ASM) and cybersecurity platform Randori, according to a joint press release Monday (June 6).

Randori “helps clients continuously identify external-facing assets, both on-premise or in the cloud, that are visible to attackers — and prioritize exposures which pose the greatest risk,” the joint announcement said. It’s the next step in IBM’s Hybrid Cloud strategy and strengthens its portfolio of AI-powered cybersecurity products and services.

“Our clients today are faced with managing a complex technology landscape of accelerating cyberattacks targeted at applications running across a variety of hybrid cloud environments — from public clouds, private clouds and on-premises,” said Mary O’Brien, general manager, IBM Security, in the joint press release.

“In this environment, it is essential for organizations to arm themselves with attacker’s perspective in order to help find their most critical blind spots and focus their efforts on areas that will minimize business disruption and damages to revenue and reputation,” she said.

Randori is IBM’s fourth acquisition in 2022, most of which have been in the hybrid cloud, artificial intelligence (AI) and cybersecurity. The tech company has acquired more than 20 companies since Arvind Krishna became CEO in April 2020.

“We started Randori to ensure every organization has access to the attacker’s perspective,” said Brian Hazzard, co-founder and CEO at Randori, in the release. “To stay ahead of today’s threats, you need to know what’s exposed and how attackers view your environment.

“By joining forces with IBM, we can greatly accelerate this vision and strategy — leveraging IBM’s deep expertise in AI, threat intelligence, offensive security and global reach. Together, we can arm the industry with the attacker’s perspective, helping to give every organization the visibility and insight needed to get in front of the next wave of attacks,” he said.

IBM plans to integrate Randori’s attack surface management software with the extended detection and response (XDR) capabilities of IBM Security QRadar.

Related: IBM Launches Real-Time AI for Transaction Processing

In April, IBM introduced what it calls the next-generation system with an integrated AI accelerator that promises to detect and prevent fraud.

Dubbed IBM z16, Big Blue said the feature was developed to allow customers to analyze real-time transactions for credit card, healthcare and finance. In addition, it was crafted to protect against threats that might be used to crack encryption technologies.