IBM’s CIO and CISO teams reengineer security operations to enable proactive threat management
Operating within a global enterprise spanning over 170 countries, IBM’s chief information officer (CIO) and chief information security officer (CISO) oversee cybersecurity and IT operations across complex hybrid environments. With over 1,000 applications and vast volumes of operational data to manage, those organizations faced challenges in maintaining efficiency and focus as the scale and pace of enterprise innovation—and AI adoption—increased.
Historical methods of managing threats were somewhat resource-intensive and sometimes contributed to alert fatigue, making it more difficult for security teams to prioritize and respond as efficiently as desired. To streamline operations and enhance proactive risk management, IBM sought a more data-driven and scalable approach—one that could help reduce operational overhead, improve visibility and support faster, more informed decision-making across the company’s security landscape.
applications uploaded and analyzed in 24 hours1
more vulnerabilities identified than by traditional methods2
reduction in low-priority threat alerts3
Following a collaboration between the CIO and CISO organizations and as part of IBM’s client zero initiative, the company implemented IBM Concert®, a next-generation software solution built with the IBM watsonx® portfolio of AI products. Through this initiative, the company acts as the first adopter of its own technologies—using AI, automation and hybrid cloud to improve internal operations and validate efficiencies at scale. This deployment of Concert® enabled IBM to streamline management of cybersecurity and IT operations across their evolving hybrid environments.
Concert enabled the CIO and CISO organizations to introduce a new layer of data-driven insight into security operations. Implementing Concert across the enterprise enhanced the company’s ability to prioritize threats based on exploitability, empowering teams to develop more efficient threat management—ultimately improving the protection of digital assets and data.
Tworek stated, “At IBM, we are constantly evaluating advanced capabilities that can help take our enterprise and product security posture to the next level. IBM Concert is emerging as a solution that can do just that—integrating telemetry, context and AI-driven automation in a way that perfectly aligns with our security-by-design and threat-informed defense strategies.”
Concert has helped take IBM’s world-class cybersecurity posture to new heights of effectiveness by uncovering opportunities that traditional methods might not surface. Beyond complementing the company’s historical security approach, Concert elevates it—providing exploitability-based insights to help reduce alert fatigue and bring vulnerabilities into sharper focus. This additional layer of intelligence builds on a strong foundation to give teams an edge in proactive threat management.
The solution has delivered tangible impact. Concert analyzed 874 applications in just 24 hours,1 identifying 32% more high-priority vulnerabilities compared to traditional methods.2 Additionally, Concert surfaced approximately 70 lower-severity common vulnerabilities and exposures (CVEs) that posed real risk but that might have otherwise gone unprioritized if evaluated solely on the Common Vulnerability Scoring System (CVSS).3 To further enhance efficiency, Concert addressed alert fatigue by streamlining security focus—resulting in a 67% reduction in low-priority alerts.4 Finally, the technology identified 15% more business applications as having elevated vulnerability risk levels compared to prior assessments.5
The success of IBM’s client zero initiative positions the company to deliver even more robust, intelligent and efficient cybersecurity operations, ultimately providing clients with more secure products and services. Looking ahead, the IBM CIO plans to leverage the integration capabilities of Concert to shift security earlier in the development lifecycle, helping foster a continued expansion of IBM’s secure-by-design culture. The goal is to build a smarter enterprise—one that’s even more efficient, predictive and secured.
The IBM Chief Information Officer (CIO) organization is responsible for delivering, securing modernizing and supporting the IT solutions that IBM employees, clients and partners use to do their jobs. The CIO organization’s strategy includes creating an adaptive IT platform that eases IT access across the enterprise, accelerating problem-solving and serving as an innovation engine for IBM, all of which spurs business growth.
Footnotes
1Based on IBM internal test data using IBM Concert, 874 internal IBM applications were uploaded, scanned and analyzed for vulnerabilities during August 2025.
2Based on IBM internal test data using IBM Concert, 32% more vulnerabilities were identified versus traditional CVSS-based tooling, such as the National Vulnerability Database (NVD), that IBM was previously using.
3Based on IBM internal test data using IBM Concert, the team was able, thanks to the software’s proprietary Concert Risk Score, to prioritize 70 CVEs that were lower priority but posed real risk.
4Based on IBM internal test data using IBM Concert, by transitioning from a CVSS-based prioritization model to the software’s risk-based scoring, the number of CVEs classified as Priority 1 has been reduced by 67%.
5Based on IBM internal testing, IBM Concert identified 15% more business applications with elevated vulnerability risk levels compared to assessments using CVSS score-based prioritization alone.
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Examples presented as illustrative only. Actual results will vary based on client configurations and conditions and, therefore, generally expected results cannot be provided.