Cybersecurity professionals always keep their eye out for trends and patterns to stay one step ahead of cyber criminals. The IBM X-Force does the same when working with customers. Over the past few years, clients have often asked the team about threats outside their internal environment, such as data leakage, brand impersonation, stolen credentials and phishing sites. To help customers overcome these often unknown and unexpected risks that are often outside of their control, the team created Cyber Exposure Insights Services.

I recently sat down with Kevin Albano, Associate Partner with IBM X-Force, to learn more about this new managed services offering.

Tell us how IBM X-Force Cyber Exposure Insights Services works?

Albano: With IBM X-Force Cyber Exposure Insights Services, the team first holds a kickoff meeting with the client to learn what matters most to the organization and about their external digital risks.  We also ask about keywords and key phrases that expose their organization, such as domain names, IP blocks and email addresses. Next, we begin basic monitoring for potential external threats. If there’s an instance of a fraudulent website or a brand impersonation then we can work with providers to take down the impersonation sites, which protects the organization’s brand reputation.

We started this service over a year ago in the Americas and Europe. Now, we are offering this service more consistently and are excited to amplify the successes we’ve already seen.

Can you share an example of how IBM X-Force Cyber Exposure Insights Services protected an organization?

Albano: With one organization we protect, we identified a fraudulent website before there was an attempt at fraud and had it taken down. Because we were looking for websites that were like our client’s official website, we detected threat actors creating the domain and hosting URL. We then contacted the domain register and hosting provider before the threat actors launched the website.

How do clients benefit from using IBM X-Force Cyber Exposure Insights Services?

Albano: One of the biggest benefits that our customers tell us about after using our services is that they have assurance that their data and their client’s data is protected. We also see that our clients see a reduction in the number of notifications of credential issues or fraudulent websites because we are proactively resolving issues. When they know about a potential issue ahead of time, the company can manage identity and access controls in a more internal way.

Resources are always a big challenge with cybersecurity. How does IBM X-Force Cyber Exposure Insights Services help with resource management?

Albano: Before using IBM X-Force Cyber Exposure Insights Services, our clients typically used a portal to update keywords and manage notifications, which takes a lot of time and resources. With IBM X-Force Cyber Exposure Insights Services managing the indications of the keywords, our clients are able to use those resources in other ways.

Through monthly meetings, we go over all keywords and operations review practices to make sure that our efforts are best protecting the client’s environment. Our team works with both sides of the business — business and technical — to help the organizations understand both the cybersecurity and business perspective which helps us better protect their brand.

Do you have any other thoughts to share on your team’s managed services offerings?

Albano: As an organization and even as individuals, we have to manage our online risk and exposure. More than ever today, as both a society and a community we have to be conscious of what we put online. Each of us needs to realize how others can use data and information both for good and malicious.

To learn how IBM X-Force can help you with anything regarding cybersecurity including incident response, threat intelligence, or offensive security services schedule a meeting here.

If you are experiencing cybersecurity issues or an incident, contact X-Force to help: US hotline 1-888-241-9812 | Global hotline (+001) 312-212-8034.