IBM released software Thursday that it says will help fight security breaches in both big and small businesses. The set of tools would help developers build security into their application using open standards, and are offered at no charge.

The tools are designed to prevent the cycle of security patches, which fix problems after attacks occur and the damage has already been done.

"Security has become top of mind among corporate software developers, independent software vendors and academia, as data protection has become a key boardroom issue," said Buell Duncan, General Manager, IBM Developer Relations.

Among the tools included in Thursday's release are automatic data encryption for Java and a development environment to secure enterprise level applications. Both will be hosted on alphaWorks, where IBM places code that it wishes to solicit feedback from developers.