IBM Corp. said on Wednesday it is launching a cyber-security hub in Bengaluru, to address the concerns of its clients across the Asia Pacific (APAC) region. IBM stated “it is a multi-million-dollar investment in its resources to help businesses prepare for and manage the growing threat of cyber-attacks to organizations across the APAC region."

The security hub will be one of the only two centres globally, the other one situated in the US. Without sharing specifics, Sandip Patel, managing director, IBM India, said this would be one of IBM’s largest investments in capabilities this year.

“The new facility represents a strategic hub for IBM cybersecurity activities in the region, which also include IBM Managed Security Services, access to IBM's team of incident response experts, as well as IBM Consulting, IBM Research, IBM India Software Labs, and IBM Garage, a collaborative approach designed to fast-track innovation," IBM said in a statement.

The centrepiece of this investment is the new IBM Security Command Center, the first-of-its-kind in the region, for training cybersecurity response techniques through highly realistic, simulated cyberattacks – designed to prepare everyone from C-suite through technical staff.

The investment also includes a new Security Operation Centre (SOC) which is part of IBM's network of existing global SOCs - providing 24x7 security response services to clients around the world. IBM's global SOC network now includes 9 locations such as Atlanta (US), Australia, Costa Rica, Japan, Poland, and Saudi Arabia. IBM's new SOC will have a capacity of 600 security response operators who will provide managed security services to clients across the globe.

"The new IBM Security Command Center is the first in Asia Pacific enabled to train the entire business in the art of response to a cyberattack event, further enhanced by the real-time experience of our security experts based in the adjoining global Security Operations Center. With Asia Pacific's enormous growth, diversity, and role in global supply chain, these capabilities can be a real game changer for helping customers face growing threats in the region," said Chris Hockings, chief technology officer of IBM Security for Asia Pacific.

According to the latest IBM global analysis, Asia is the most targeted region for cyberattacks – representing 26% of attacks analysed in 2021. The data reveals a significant regional shift compared to the past decade of the report, where North America and Europe have historically ranked as most-targeted. This trend signals a growing need for security investments among Asian organizations, particularly those in financial services and manufacturing, which were the most-targeted industries in the region.