IBM has launched an AI-powered SSD that can identify and neutralize ransomware threats in less than a minute. However, consumers should not expect to purchase this technology for personal use anytime soon.
According to a November 2023 report from TechTarget's Enterprise Strategy Group, 89% of organizations view ransomware as one of the top five existential threats. Additionally, a 2024 IBM X-Force Threat Intelligence Index report suggests that as the AI market matures, AI itself could become a new attack surface for cybercriminals.
In response to these growing threats, IBM has released AI-enhanced versions of its FlashCore Module (FCM) technology. FCMs are proprietary flash drives used in IBM FlashSystem 5000 and Storwize arrays that feature real-time detection of ransomware and other attacks.
Make organizations more data resilient
IBM's newly available fourth-generation technology, FCM4, enables artificial intelligence capabilities within IBM Storage FlashSystem, meaning it can continuously monitor statistics for each I/O using machine learning models, supposedly allowing it to detect ransomware and other threats in less than 60 minutes. seconds. The sooner companies can become aware of attacks, the sooner they can take action, potentially resulting in a faster recovery.
Incorporated in new IBM Storage FlashSystem products and a new version of IBM Storage Defender software, these tools aim to improve organizations' capabilities to detect and respond to a wide range of cyber threats.
IBM Storage Defender software incorporates Cohesity's DataProtect and Index Engines' CyberSense, and promises end-to-end data resiliency across hybrid multi-cloud IT environments. This new version expands the threat detection capabilities of the software to make it much more useful and, in IBM's own words, “helps develop the reliability of copies as a basis for computers to begin recovering from cyberattacks.”
Sam Werner, vice president of IBM Storage Product Management, said: “Individually, both FlashSystem and Defender have capabilities that can help organizations become more data resilient, but they are even better together. For example, storage administrators can now create protection groups that include specific volumes and are automatically backed up according to user-defined policies. Immutable copies of data can now be restored or recovered to multiple target locations, including different locations when recovering from a cyber attack. Additionally, immutable copies can be replicated to another IBM Storage Defender cluster for an additional layer of protection.”
Blocks and files notes that while popular SSD vendors like Micron, Samsung, and Western Digital could add similar AI scanning of SSD I/O in real time, they would need to send the attack alerts to some system management resource in order to respond. to alerts. . That's not a problem for IBM since Storage Defender is that resource for its customers.
