Under this initiative, the company is establishing the IBM Institute for Advanced Security to help government and private sector clients, academics and business partners more easily understand, address and mitigate the issues associated with securing cyberspace.

Based in Washington, D.C., the Institute will provide a collaborative setting for public and private sector officials to tap IBM’s vast security expertise so they can more efficiently and effectively secure and protect critical systems and information threatened by increasingly malicious and costly cyber threats. IBM’s approach will help public and private organizations avoid the trend of adding security on after the fact by providing them the education, expertise and resources to design security into the foundation of their infrastructures.

IBM experts from across the company will come together within the Institute to help clients address existing and emerging cybersecurity challenges by using analytics and other advanced technologies, services and solutions to anticipate, prevent and mitigate the growing risk and potential economic impact of cyber attacks.

IBM’s initiative will enable others to embrace a strategic approach to managing cybersecurity, building on the security rich systems and software that have earned the trust of IBM clients around the world for decades. For instance, the U.S. Air Force recently selected IBM to design and demonstrate a highly secure cloud computing infrastructure that can support defense and intelligence networks. The Institute also will provide a forum for clients to better understand how recent IBM Research advances, such as the fully homomorphic encryption breakthrough, can help them to operate in more intelligent ways, while protecting the privacy and security of critical information.

IBM, which holds more than 3,000 security and risk management patents and maintains one of the world’s largest comprehensive threats and vulnerabilities databases, will use the IBM Institute for Advanced Security to apply the capabilities and experience of its more than 15,000 multidisciplinary global security experts to a broad range of cybersecurity and privacy challenges.

The Institute also will enhance and support IBM’s existing work with government and private sector leaders, and serve as a focal point for new clients, policymakers, and other key constituencies to access and collaborate with the company’s cybersecurity experts and resources in the U.S. and around the world. It also will engage in public-private collaboration and policy activities to drive innovation in next-generation security models and capabilities, which are essential for progress in the cybersecurity arena.

IBM views cybersecurity as achieving resilience and integrity across the critical information infrastructure of the smarter planet, which requires more secure government, cities, utilities, transportation systems, water supplies and telecommunications. Government and private sector clients are beginning to utilize smarter systems and are seeking answers for how to secure and govern these systems.

To help clients find answers to their cybersecurity questions, IBM’s Institute for Advanced Security will host the first in a series of planned workshops, entitled “A Smarter and Secure Planet,” in Bethesda, Maryland on March 22-23. The workshop will feature an exchange among technical and policy professionals, researchers, officials and practitioners on the requirements for secure, agile systems.