For the second time in two weeks, IBM (NYSE: IBM) is making an acquisition to expand its cloud security and identity and  access management suite.

The latest deal is for Lighthouse Security Group’s Gateway platform and business operations. The acquisition was announced Monday. 

On July 31, IBM said it was acquiring CrossIdeas. (Read research firms Technology Business Research’s analysis of the deal at WRAL TechWire )

Financial terms of the deals were not disclosed.

IBM and Lighthouse Security Group are “longtime” business partners.

The deals offer IBM’s product offerings for information access from mobile devices in “cloud” computing environments.

“Business models are rapidly evolving as employees conduct more of their work offsite. Protecting this data and who has access to it has become a challenge, costing our clients time and money.” said Kris Lovejoy, general manager of IBM Security Services, in a statement. “With this acquisition, IBM provides a unique identity and access management offering that combines proven software and analytics technology with expert managed services that make it easy for businesses to tackle the complexities of security in this new digital world.”

CrossIdeas software is used for on-premise and cloud access.

“By integrating the businesses of Lighthouse Security Group and CrossIdeas with IBM’s identity and access management offering, IBM will offer a full suite of security software and services that protect and manage a user’s identity,” IBM said.

The IBM Analysis

In a blog at IBM’s security website, Global Security Strategist and Program Manager for Identity and Access Management Ryan Dougherty talked about the reasoning behind the deals.

“The challenges of data access have been exacerbated by the digital world where companies are struggling to protect company information, including employee and customer identity, as they are stored beyond the traditional enterprise. Rather than managing a single point of entry to this information, businesses must now be able to verify who is accessing their systems, data and network, and whether they are entitled to do so, from multiple points including cloud and mobile devices. In this new era, identity and access management has become the first line of defense from potential data breaches.+

“With an expanded view of activities across different security domains throughout the enterprise, and by correlating identity and access management data with other important security events, organizations can quickly uncover inappropriate or suspicious user behavior, including insider threats, and significantly decrease threat response times.”

IBM employs some 7,500 people across North Carolina. Its RTP campus is one of the company’s largest in the U.S.

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