IBM has acquired Guardium, a privately held company that offers solutions for realtime enterprise database monitoring and protection.

Designed for cross-platform environments, Guardium’s technology identifies patterns and anomalies in data access and usage.

The monitoring capabilities of Guardium’s technology also detect fraud and unauthorized access via enterprise applications such as an organization’s ERP, CRM or Data Warehousing solutions.

“Organisations are grappling with government mandates, industry standards and business demands to ensure that their critical data is protected against internal and external threats,” said Arvind Krishna, general manager, IBM Information Management.

“This acquisition is another significant step in our abilities to help clients govern and monitor their data, and ultimately make their information more secure throughout its lifecycle.”

According to a recent IBM Global CIO Study, one in three business leaders frequently make decisions based on information they do not trust or do not have. With renewed focus on transparency and accountability, businesses and government agencies cannot afford to make decisions based on data that has been compromised.