Alert Enterprise to unite IT and physical security teams with AI using IBM watsonx

September 16, 2024

Modern businesses face new, emerging security challenges as digitization increases and the boundaries between physical and cyber environments rapidly blur. A cyberattack on critical IT infrastructure can now cause physical damage while a physical breach in a business office can compromise sensitive digital data. Addressing these converged threats requires an integrated security approach merging physical and cybersecurity functions, which enables organizations to better detect, respond to and mitigate risks across both domains. Generative AI can help businesses monitor threats in the workplace and proactively address potential security incidents. We have partnered with IBM to integrate IBM watsonx.ai with Alert Enterprise’s Guardian Security AI Chatbot. Underpinned by IBM Granite 13B LLM, this collaboration will provide businesses with a holistic security management platform to improve real-time monitoring of cybersecurity attacks in physical spaces (i.e. offices, access control, and cyber environments).

Empowering security teams with AI via Alert Enterprise and IBM watsonx.ai

We designed the Alert Enterprise platform to help the heads of physical security (CSOs) and IT security (CIOs) break down silos and enhance their existing security governance approach. By combining real-time monitoring of cyber-physical risks with advanced analytics, Alert Enterprise has created a proactive, integrated security environment designed to protect both internal and external threats.

Data scientists and engineers from Alert Enterprise have been using AI to address security convergence challenges, ensuring it can be applied across hybrid cloud platforms. Alert Enterprise’s Guardian Security AI Chatbot uses IBM watsonx.ai retrieval-augmented generation (RAG), Prompt Lab and IBM Watson Machine Learning full-service on IBM Cloud to monitor digital and physical assets and provide instant cyber threat information — which equips security leaders to quickly take action.

A customer’s employee can also communicate directly with the chatbot: Say a new security guard asks about a company’s best practices for safety procedures. The chatbot would pull information from the company’s security handbook to provide the security guard with the proper protocol.

Our team also intends to use the AutoAI function within watsonx.ai to deliver Security Operations Center (SoC) insights, which detect and mitigate insider threats by analyzing data to create the best predictive model. IBM watsonx.ai helps enable the Guardian Security AI Chatbot to instantly answer questions relating to physical access, identity access management, visitor management, door reader analytics, and security and safety reporting.

How businesses and developers can quickly access intelligent security convergence solutions

Customers can benefit from short implementation cycles and easily access intelligent security convergence solutions by using the Guardian Security AI Chatbot integrated with watsonx.ai. With Guardian, these customers can now access a more comprehensive, real-time view of potential safety and compliance violations, which provides a threat risk score to help businesses take action. For example, if specific training is needed to access an on-site room with technical equipment and an employee does not have the proper credentials, Guardian Security AI Chatbot can help quickly communicate the need to clear the room for safety precautions.

In only a few short months of working with IBM, we were able to bring our ideas to life and embed watsonx.ai into the Alert Enterprise platform. IBM’s open AI platform, which is agnostic to models, provides our customers with the flexible, proactive approach they need to address fast-developing, complex threats. By working closely with IBM, we can continue finding new ways to use AI to benefit all customers.