Credit: Dreamstime
Cyber security services supergroup CyberCX has launched its unified Western Australian (WA) operations in Perth, with plans for additional growth expected to see the company boost its headcount in the state to 70 within the coming year.
The company also plans to support its continued growth in the state with a “significant” capital investment in a Perth-based security operations centre (SOC), which it hopes will play a pivotal role in establishing Australia’s largest network of distributed SOC capability, spanning five facilities across the country.
Launched in October last year, the private equity-backed CyberCX has already grown to more than 600 cyber security professionals across over 20 offices across Australia and New Zealand, growing largely through acquisition.
It first launched by bringing together several independent cyber brands into a single cyber security supergroup, including Alcorn, Assurance, Asterisk, CQR, Diamond, Enosys, Klein&Co, Phriendly Phishing, Sense of Security, Shearwater, TSS and Yell IT.
Since then, it has undertaken a series of additional acquisitions around the country and in New Zealand, most recently, Cloudten and Decipher Works.
Now, the company has revealed that, with WA’s Asterisk Information Security and Diamond Cyber Security under its belt, it has committed “significant” investment in local recruitment and technology to enhance its full range of cyber security services to the state’s economy.
As a unified entity in the state, CyberCX will be based in Perth’s BGC Centre, at 28 The Esplanade, investing in office facilities and service support capabilities to encourage and attract WA cyber talent.
The company said that through close working relationships with Edith Cowan University (ECU), the University of Western Australia (UWA) and Curtin University, along with collaboration with the state’s cyber security ecosystem, it hopes to develop local cyber talent and grow its WA workforce to over 70 cyber security professionals in the next year.
Along with the establishment of its proposed Perth-based SOC, the company has expressed a commitment to improving the cyber skills shortage in WA, helping to meet the needs of key sectors in the state, such as mining, oil and gas and higher education.
Credit: CyberCX “Western Australia is a key strategic market for CyberCX,” its CEO John Paitaridis said. “Western Australia is at the epicentre of the nation’s mining and resources industry which is a key driver of the Australian economy.
“We are mission-focused about protecting Western Australian businesses and communities, especially our critical infrastructure.
“It is time that Western Australia had a cyber security organisation with boots on the ground in WA, committed to defending and protecting local WA businesses and industry with a large team of dedicated cyber security specialists in Western Australia, without having to rely on remote delivery of cyber security services from other parts of Australia or internationally,” he added.
According to CyberCX WA executive director Steve Schupp, the state makes an attractive target to malicious cyber actors.
“We are seeing exponential growth in the number of cyber-attacks on Australian businesses and government agencies,” he said.
Western Australian Minister for Innovation and ICT Dave Kelly welcomed the announcement, congratulating CyberCX on the launch of its WA operations in Perth.
“Ensuring data networks and systems are secure is critical to protecting against the ever-increasing threat of cyber-attack we’re seeing on Western Australian industry and businesses,” Kelly said.
