No matter what IBM database configuration or system you’re running, a big issue is always security and IBM knows that.

It just announced new software that automatically monitors structured data and app use across the enterprise and lets IT know immediately about any unusual or suspect activity whether it’s in the CRM, ERP, finance or HR resources.

Industry estimates report that a data breach is a costly occurrence: somewhere between a $100 and $200 per compromised record. That can add up when you consider how many actual records are being stored and accessed on a daily basis.
The IBM InfoSphere Guardium 8 not only eases security headaches but it aims to make security easier and help you meet increasing regulatory mandates as it works off a single set of controls.

Here’s a quick list of what it offers:

Fraud protection for SAP by monitoring all activity, from internal users to administrators and outsourced personnel without making any changes to their databases or applications.

Protection of SharePoint files with real-time monitoring controls that make it easier to detect unauthorized access to repositories.

Mainframe support, which is often an overlooked but crucial part of database security, by providing enhanced database activity monitoring capabilities for IBM DB2 databases running on System z. For example, if a database administrator at an insurance company tries to access a client's social security number, salary and medical history, the system will immediately generate an alert for security and compliance personnel.

The tool also offers up automated tests to check for vulnerability points, such as weak permission, and even offers monitoring and assessment capabilities for non-IBM database platforms running on the mainframe such as Oracle for Linux on System z.

There is advanced blocking and quarantining when an unauthorized or suspicious activity occurs. For example, if a database administrator at a hospital accessed private data on a high-profile patient, that employee's access to the database would be immediately blocked, without requiring any manual, time-consuming or error-prone changes to critical databases and applications.

The offers up a slew of capabilities for System z, SharePoint and SAP along with existing capabilities for protecting heterogeneous database infrastructures including IBM DB2 and Informix, Oracle and Microsoft SQL Server and enterprise applications such as IBM Cognos and PeopleSoft.

"Data is the new currency for business and safeguarding that investment is a primary concern for businesses across every industry," said Arvind Krishna, general manager," IBM Information Management.

"IBM is the only vendor that can help clients reduce the complexity of data security across the largest and most diverse data center environments while at the same time reducing the costs associated with regulatory compliance."

In the past four years IBM has made 11 acquisitions to expand security technologies and this latest update to Guardium, which IBM acquired less than a year ago, just proves IBM is as serious about security as it is about database technology itself.