Australian security specialist CyberCX launches into NZ via Gen2

John Paitaridis (CyberCX)

Melbourne-based cyber security provider CyberCX is launching into New Zealand with a full suite of services after acquiring Gen2 Consulting last December.

CyberCX NZ would offer services covering cyber security domains including consultation and advisory services, governance, risk and compliance; digital forensics and incident response, penetration testing and assurance; security integration and engineering; and managed security services, the company announced today.

The local CyberCX NZ company was formed out of Gen2 Consulting, which changed its name on 14 August and is now owned by CyberCX Holdings which is in turn owned by the Australian company.

Gen2 won a place on the all of government telecommunications as a service panel as a provider of managed security services in 2018.

CyberCX NZ said it would have a large specialised cyber security workforce in New Zealand, serving enterprise and government customers.  

The company said it offered a "unique focus" on both risk and technology that differentiated it from existing players in the market.

CyberCX New Zealand CEO Grant Smith, founder of Gen2 Consulting and DMZ Global, said the company’s plans included increasing CyberCX’s New Zealand workforce to more than 100 employees in the next year.

It would invest in developing a New Zealand security operations centre (SOC) capability and local cyber workforce development and also intended to expand its offices in Wellington and Auckland as well as to open an office in Christchurch

“It is clear that many New Zealand businesses, enterprise and government organisations are not yet well enough advised, supported or equipped to defend their critical assets," Smith said.

"Each year, thousands of New Zealand organisations fall victim to cyber attacks totaling tens of millions of dollars in losses." 

Forty per cent of those incidents were linked to state-sponsored actors, he said. 

In the past 12 months, CyberCX launched its Australian operations, establishing what it described as the largest independent cyber security firm operating in Australia. 

The company said it had 500 cyber security professionals under the leadership of group CEO John Paitaridis and chief strategy officer Alastair MacGibbon.

New Zealand was a natural market focus for CyberCX, said Paitaridis.

“It is time that Australia and New Zealand had its own cyber security company, a national champion at scale, able to defend and protect our local businesses and economies," he said. 

"For too long we have relied on international companies for cyber services, where their interests don’t always align."