IBM has won a contract with $26m in initial funding from the US Agency for International Development (USAID) to support the latter’s cybersecurity protection and response (CPR) programme.
The programme is aimed at expanding and improving the cybersecurity response support of the US agency for host governments in the Europe and Eurasia (E&E) region.
Under the five-year contract, IBM’s multidisciplinary team will continuously assist USAID in enhancing the capabilities of host government agencies and critical infrastructure operators to identify, protect against, detect, respond to, and recover from cyberattacks.
USAID Europe and Eurasia Bureau Assistant Administrator Erin McKee said: “Working with IBM and leveraging the company’s global experience and leadership in cybersecurity services, we are one step closer to meeting our strategic goals of improving development and humanitarian assistance outcomes through the use of digital technology and strengthening open, secure, and inclusive digital ecosystems.”
IBM stated that it will support USAID in advancing its goal to create a secured, interoperable, and resilient digital ecosystem in the E&E region. This will involve providing cybersecurity programme management, incident response, capacity building, and related services.
According to IBM, the brisk development and adoption of technology around the world holds the potential for a new, empowered, and digitally enabled society. But technologies and services built on insecure infrastructures pose challenges for governments and critical infrastructure operators in combating cyber threats.
IBM Consulting US federal market cybersecurity services lead and partner Alice Fakir said: “For USAID host countries to benefit from IT modernisation efforts, they must incorporate cyber threat mitigation and capacity-building into their program design and implementation.
“Cybersecurity is officially a global development challenge, and IBM is proud to partner with USAID by supporting the integration of cybersecurity across a host country’s civilian IT infrastructure.”
