IBM joins OpenAI cyber programme, launches AI-powered application security service

The new service is designed to go beyond traditional code scanning by identifying and validating vulnerabilities through AI-driven analysis.

IBM on Monday announced that it has joined the OpenAI Daybreak Cyber Partner Program and launched a new application security service that uses OpenAI’s cyber capabilities to help organisations identify and validate software vulnerabilities.The announcement builds on Project Lightwell, an initiative that aims to strengthen software supply chain security through AI-assisted code review and remediation.According to the company’s statement, the new service is designed to go beyond traditional code scanning by identifying and validating vulnerabilities through AI-driven analysis.

The system assesses application code and prioritises areas with the highest potential for flaws and exploitable pathways.The service is powered by IBM Consulting Advantage, the company’s AI platform for consulting services, and connects client application environments to advanced AI capabilities within a controlled and governed framework.“The OpenAI Daybreak Cyber Partner Program expands our access to a broader set of advanced AI capabilities, which we deploy within our clients’ environments to help surface the most relevant risks faster and help them act with confidence,” said Mark Hughes, Global Managing Partner, Cybersecurity Services, IBM Consulting.IBM said the security harness operates within a client’s environment with read-only access to code repositories and bounded execution, enabling large-scale exposure analysis.The offering is available as a managed service, allowing customers to begin with targeted application assessments and later expand to continuous monitoring as software code evolves and new threats emerge, the company said.IBM said its participation in the OpenAI Daybreak Cyber Partner Program is intended to support the deployment of advanced AI capabilities in enterprise security workflows and contribute to the development of safeguards and standards for AI-enabled security analysis.“Through the OpenAI Daybreak Cyber Partner Program, we are collaborating with AI pioneers like IBM to use frontier models to accelerate defensive security workflows and support enterprises, governments, and other organisations as they identify risks, strengthen resilience, improve security, and ultimately deploy AI with the trust, controls, and compliance their environments require,” said Dane Stuckey, Chief Information Security Officer at OpenAI.Project Lightwell combines an enterprise security clearinghouse with a global engineering network to patch, validate and manage open-source software across the supply chain.

IBM said the initiative is backed by a $5 billion commitment from IBM and Red Hat and will use OpenAI’s cyber capabilities alongside other frontier AI models.The application security service is available immediately, with additional integrations planned under the OpenAI Daybreak Cyber Partner Program, the company added.