IBM acquires Cloud security services company, Lighthouse Security Group

IBM announced on August 11 it has acquired the business operations of Lighthouse Security Group, LLC, a Cloud security services provider.

Lighthouse Security Group’s Gateway platform protects identity and data in an increasingly complex IT environment where more company information is being stored in the Cloud and accessed from mobile devices.

Lighthouse Security Group is a subsidiary of long-time IBM business partner, Lighthouse Computer Services, Inc. Financial terms were not disclosed.

Today’s news follows IBM’s acquisition of CrossIdeas, a privately held provider of security software that governs user access to applications and data across on-premise and Cloud environments. CrossIdeas combines business-driven governance and analytics capabilities to give customers greater control for securing enterprises.

By integrating the businesses of Lighthouse Security Group and CrossIdeas with IBM’s identity and access management offering, IBM will offer a full suite of security software and services that protect and manage a user’s identity, says an IBM news release.

The challenges of data access have been exacerbated by the digital world where companies are struggling to protect company information, including employee and customer identity, as they are stored beyond the traditional enterprise. Rather than managing a single point of entry to this information, businesses must now be able to verify who is accessing their systems, data and network, and whether they are entitled to do so, from multiple points including cloud and mobile devices. In this new era, identity and access management has become the first line of defense from potential data breaches, adds the release.

Based in Lincoln, RI, Lighthouse Security Group offers the Lighthouse Gateway, an identity management solution that will be integrated into IBM’s leading managed security services offering. Customers can deploy and use the solution from a secure, hosted environment, which significantly reduces the cost of digital identity management and speeds the deployment for any type of IT environment—a data center, in the Cloud or a hybrid of the two. As a result, businesses can take immediate steps to help protect corporate data and prevent identity theft by ensuring that only authorized personnel can access sensitive corporate information no matter what the entry point is.