IBM Updates Tivoli Compliance

July 2, 2007: IBM is showing off its new Tivoli compliance software, claiming that the information security audit and compliance kit will help businesses better manage their systems and data according to their regulatory obligations.

IBM claims Tivoli Compliance Insight Manager helps companies track, report and investigate non-compliant behaviour by monitoring user interaction with policies. It provides automated alerts when information or technology assets are at risk, when data or systems are inappropriately accessed, or if security policies have been violated.

The company cites laws and regulations such as Sarbanes-Oxley, Basel II and HIPAA as significant burdens, and while Australian companies are not specifically affected by these three, those operating in the US are, just as they are by domestic laws.

More worrying though, is that it cites a recent Gartner prediction that the number regulatory requirements that directly affect IT operations are expected to double in the next five years. It notes that through 2010, companies that select individual solutions for each regulatory challenge will spend ten times more on the IT portion of compliance projects than companies that take a proactive, integrated approach.

Insight Manager includes features such as the creation of custom compliance management modules, a custom report writer for compliance related report creation and an intriguing translating tool that enables large amounts of captured security data to be translated into a common format. IBM calls this “W7 methodology”, which stands for “Who, did What, When, Where, Where from, Where to and on What”, and claims that it makes disparate data easy for an auditor or organisational leader to understand when they are not intimately familiar with the areas the data has been collected from.

IBM says that Tivoli enhances the ability to collect information and demonstrate that proper internal controls are being deployed and enforced, and dubs this release as a “significant addition to the IBM Governance & Risk Management portfolio” through its expansion of Consul InSight.

“Companies today are dealing with an increasingly complex regulatory environment, along with growing IT environments, and increasing demands to run secure and highly resilient businesses,” said Kristin Lovejoy, director, IBM Governance & Risk Management strategy. “IBM Tivoli Compliance Insight Manager provides a valuable, automated management tool for improved organisational efficiency and fast response to security and compliance violations.”

IBM Tivoli Compliance Insight Manager will be available worldwide on July 6, 2007.

Comment on this story