IBM's SWORD4J software to stem security breaches and hacker attacks

22 June 2006

IBM said there is a critical need for secure data transfers in the banking, e-commerce and healthcare industries. The software major quoted a survey by the FBI which estimates that cyber crime cost U.S. businesses more than $62 billion in 2005.

One offering, the Secure Shell Library for Java, encrypts data sent between computers, IBM said. The software adheres to the SSH (secure shell) security protocol standards, IBM said.

A second tool lets developers test and secure enterprise Java applications, supporting standards such as Java 2 and the Open Services Gateway Initiative (OSGi), a set of specifications for networked devices.

Developers can use the software, called Security Workbench Development Environment for Java (SWORD4J), to embed authorization and access privileges into development processes while building applications, IBM said.

The software saves developers time by generating security policies without running code, IBM said. The software is available as part of IBM's alphaWorks program.

This technology is part of the Emerging Technologies Toolkit (ETTK), a special collection of emerging technologies from IBM's software development and research labs.