IBM’s Artificial Intelligence AV antivirus and security company Rand is looking for new clients after a software breach exposed data stolen from a company it owns.
The company says it notified IBM of the breach on Monday and is offering “an unlimited payment of $200,000 to any one of the individuals or entities who have been compromised.”
The company’s vice president of marketing and public affairs, Jason C. Zebrowitz, told Reuters that it is not disclosing the identity of the new client.IBM is one of a number of security vendors that has been targeted by cybercriminals in recent years.
The breach at Rand shows the dangers of operating with a single vendor in such an industry, and shows how vulnerable many large corporations are to cybercrime.IBMs AV vendor, Rapid7, has been at the forefront of the industry, working to help businesses secure against cyberattacks, and has been criticized by security experts for not doing enough to prevent the spread of malicious software.”IBM has been in the forefront for a long time,” said Jeffery Giesbrecht, the director of cybersecurity at the cybersecurity firm FireEye.
“They are very focused on being the industry leader and providing the security solutions to help organizations and consumers.
They’ve been very focused in the last few years.”
Giesbrech said IBM would like to offer to assist the company in any way it can, but the company is not in a position to do so at this point.
Rand, he added, “has the potential to have a very serious impact on the cybersecurity industry.”RAND was one of three companies that signed a contract with IBM in April, to help the company protect its systems against malicious software and the attacks that followed.IBMS declined to provide a copy of the agreement to Reuters.
A representative from the company did not immediately respond to an email seeking comment.
