IBM introduced a new intrusion detection technology dubbed Billy Goat that claims to be highly effective in battling worm viruses and other types of malicious IT threats, and in eliminating false security alarms.

According to IBM, the tool hides itself to appear on a corporate network as a collection of servers that appear to be attractive candidates for an outside attack. While offering few technical details of how Billy Goat works, the company was quick to point out that the "masquerading" technology does not communicate with any legitimate computers on a customer's network, but said that it is created such that criminals who randomly attack servers are likely to find it and fall for the ploy.

Billy Goat uses a unique approach to detect malicious software by responding to requests sent to unused IP addresses, presenting what from a worm's-eye view looks like a network full of machines and services," Dr. James Riordan, lead designer of the system at IBM's Zurich Research Lab said in a statement.

As soon as Billy Goat gets attacked, IBM says, the system quickly identifies any attacking computers and blocks them from contacting other IT assets, which the company said isolates any worms and viruses before they can do any real damage.