IBM Launches Program to Share 700 Terabytes of Global Cyber Threat Data in the Cloud

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This article originally appeared at The WHIR

A 700-plus-terabyte database full of raw cyber threat data will be available to any company that wants it through a new IBM program called X-Force Exchange. The company announced that it is granting access to its database that includes threat data from 270 million devices, spam and phishing attack emails and 25 billion web pages and images. The service is powered by IBM Cloud.

The platform also provides real-time indicators of live attacks. The program’s goal is to help companies mobilize against network threats. The company says there currently isn’t a single point of contact for this kind of information.

“We’re taking the lead by opening up our own deep and global network of cyberthreat research, customers, technologies and experts,” said Brendan Hannigan, general manager for IBM Security. “We’re aiming to accelerate the formation of the networks and relationships we need to fight hackers.”

Threat sharing has been a hot topic recently. Obama recommended new cybersecurity legislation in February and proposed a $14 billion cybersecurity budget that includes $227 million for construction of a civilian cyber campus to better share information on cyber threats.

However, according to the 2015 Data Breach Investigations Report released Tuesdaycyber threat sharing may not actually be that effective. “It is hard to draw a positive conclusion from these metrics, and it seems to suggest that if threat intelligence indicators were really able to help an enterprise defense strategy, one would need to have access to all of the feeds from all of the providers to be able to get the ‘best’ possible coverage,” said the report. “This would be a herculean task for any organization, and given the results of our analysis, the result would still be incomplete intelligence.”

The IBM program offers a wealth of resources including a variety of intelligence and data, including malware threat intelligence, spam and phishing attacks and reputation data.

The cloud-based platform allows for collaboration among community members. It features a social interface that allows users to easily communicate and validate information. The platform is providing support for the emerging standards for threat sharing, STIX and TAXII.

Finding solutions to cybersecurity threats is becoming big business. With big data breaches such as JP Morgan, Kmart, Dairy Queen, Home Depot, Xbox and Sony costing millions of dollars in damages companies are looking for ways to protect themselves from hackers and data loss.

This first ran at our sister site The WHIR: http://www.thewhir.com/web-hosting-news/ibm-launches-program-share-700-terabytes-global-cyber-threat-data-cloud