Partners for Your Protection: How IBM+AWS Deliver Cloud Security

During this year’s AWS re:Invent conference in Las Vegas, AI is probably the buzzword of the conference and IBM is all in. At the heart of IBM’s generative AI strategy is enabling customers to get the most from data across their enterprise.?

As an AWS Premier Tier partner, IBM now has?24,000 AWS certifications, 21 validated service delivery programs, and mastery in 29 AWS competencies.?

People are sometimes surprised to learn about the long partnership history between IBM and AWS.? The companies have been working together since?2016?to provide secure, automated solutions for hybrid cloud environments.

The IBM and AWS partnership continues to grow from a technology, product and consulting perspective.? This partnership gives clients the flexibility to choose the right mix of technologies for their needs, and IBM Consulting can help them scale those solutions enterprise-wide.

While the show floor was buzzing with activities and energy, I had the pleasure of having a coffee chat with Dimple Ahluwalia, VP & Global Managing Partner, IBM Consulting Cybersecurity Services.?

Dimple, an IBMer with 18 years of tenure is a problem solver who wears two hats.? She is a Business Information Security Officer for the consulting business unit as well as having a commercial executive role in the CyberDefend group.?

Her insights and perspective are two-fold as both an internal leader for cyber guidance and a commercial leader who is able to really understand the needs of the security leaders she speaks to on a daily basis.?

IBM recently announced Autonomous Security for Cloud (ASC), an AI-powered solution designed to automate cloud security management and decision-making to help mitigate risk for organizations accelerating their cloud journey on Amazon Web Services (AWS) environments.

With Dimple’s expertise and experience of the current cyber landscape and up to date market view, she was the perfect person to walk me through the value of ASC.?

Available globally in December and built on a tenant of minimizing risk reduction for organizations accelerating their cloud journey in AWS environments, IBM ASC leverages Amazon Bedrock generative AI technology to automate, evolve and enforce client-chosen security controls quickly.?

Foundationally the IBM ASC solution uses automation, machine learning, and artificial intelligence to improve overall cybersecurity efficiency.? By using generative AI for autonomous decisions, ASC works to ease the operational burden of routine security decision making for teams. The AI engine continuously learns from new data and adapts its security strategies over time to stay ahead of emerging threats.?

Dimple shares with me that one of the things she likes best about ASC is its ability to solve two of the largest cloud security problems—misconfiguration and unauthorized access.? In fact, in complex, highly regulated environments, misconfigurations and compliance failures were identified as the top threats organizations are facing with their cloud workloads as highlighted in IBM's 2024 Cloud Threat Landscape?report. She tells me IBM is considering the tools and software that customers rely on to make their businesses run.?

ASC streamlines and automates security and compliance tasks and incorporates the concept of self healing, self optimization and self protection in cloud security operations. Additionally, the solution mitigates risks by offering continuous monitoring, immediate adjustment for potential misconfigurations and proactive threat mitigation.?

Overall, with the IBM and AWS partnership delivers exceptional business value to clients.

ASC is a step in the right direction for IT executives looking for their security and compliance frameworks to automatically adjust in real time and to keep pace as the needs of the business change and flex. IBM Consulting’s security teams bring implementation and configuration expertise as well as an advisory element that is grounded in pragramitism.

To learn more information about IBM's Autonomous Security for Cloud solution visit: https://ibm.biz/BdaNGX

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