IBM announced that it has secured a five-year contract with $26 million in initial funding from the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) to support its Cybersecurity Protection and Response (CPR) program aimed to expand and enhance the agency's cybersecurity response support for host governments in the Europe and Eurasia (E&E) region. IBM's multidisciplinary team will provide the continuous assistance needed to help USAID strengthen the ability of host government agencies and critical infrastructure operators to identify, protect, detect, respond to, and recover from cyberattacks. The rapid development and adoption of technology globally holds the promise of a new, empowered, and digitally enabled society.

However, technologies and services built on infrastructures with security risks can make it almost impossible for governments and critical infrastructure operators to combat cyber threats. By providing cybersecurity-related program management, incident response, capacity building and other services, IBM will help advance USAID's mission to build a secured, interoperable, and resilient digital ecosystem in the E&E region.