International Business Machines Corp. (NYSE: IBM) unveiled Thursday its new fraud and financial crimes prevention business. IBM said the new organization includes more than 500 fraud experts and would draw on 290 fraud-related patents, as well as several large corporate acquisitions the company has made in the since 2005.

The new initiative will combine big data analytics, business expertise and data visualization to identify threats — from tax evasion to money laundering to cyberattacks — and address the $3.5 trillion lost each year to fraud and financial crimes. The organization hopes to do more than detect fraud, but to help clients employ a holistic approach to understand the criminals, their relationships and the techniques they use.

IBM said:

With today’s news, IBM is applying many of the same tactics, techniques and procedures used by the intelligence and law enforcement communities to help commercial organizations take a holistic view of this growing and pervasive threat. These technologies allow line of business leaders to quickly adapt to emerging threats across the entire organization. Our new initiative puts Big Data and Analytics into the hands of those tasked with defending their organizations from financial losses, protecting the brand and delivering exceptional customer service.

The company said it initially will focus on areas like banking, insurance and health care. Its offering will include both software and consulting services. Perhaps Target Corp. (NYSE: TGT) will be interested. Such a service may have helped avoid last year’s data breach that affected up to 110 million Target customers.

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