Citing a growth in cybersecurity challenges in this country, Chicago-based “security-as-a-service” vendor Trustwave has opened a new office based in Waterloo.
According to new Trustwave Canada country manager Michael Sims, the new Waterloo office feature will support approximately 90 employees. There is a need for more security professionals in this country, Sims told IT World Canada. The company is currently expanding its engineering and sales presence in Canada as well, he added.
The Canadian office has relocated from its original Cambridge, Ont.-based facility. “It gives us a really good draw from an area that’s very rich in IT and security talent.”
The company has immediate plans to hire 30 new staff — including roles in security and threat analysts, security consultants, software engineers, sales and marketing — that will join the 65 employees presently employed by Trustwave in Canada.
The office location also features an Advanced Security Operations Centre (ASOC) through which Trustwave delivers managed security services to clients headquartered in Canada as well as multi-national corporations with operations in the region, Sims said.
Trustwave’s increased focus on the Canadian market supports Trustwave’s organic growth in Canada; this includes the company’s partnership with Rogers Communications first announced this past December.
Rogers currently offers Trustwave Managed Security Services as part of its “cybersecurity as a service” product offerings including include real-time monitoring of a SIEM (security information and event management) intrusion detection, firewalls, unified threat appliances, threat analytics support plus professional services for security assessment, compliance, vulnerability scanning and penetration testing.
The relationship with Rogers has given Trustwave “substantial growth” and reach across Canada, according to Sims.
“Our growth basically reached a point where we had to expand our presence in Canada,” said Sims. “Our competitors are the folks that are not servicing their customers well.”
While the security issues and challenges are often the same across North America, Canadian organizations in particular are facing specific pressure from cybersecurity threats, vulnerabilities and resource constraints, according to Sims.
“One of the big concerns with Canadian customers is that they do like to have data sovereignty and like to work with an organization that has a stock in Canada. The U.S Patriot Act always causing concerns (among Canadian firms),” he said, adding that issue of who is monitoring sensitive business data is a present concern for local firms.
“That’s part of the reason why we wanted…to have data reside in Canada.”
He cited the vendor’s recent 2016 Security Pressures Report, which notes that detecting vulnerabilities is the top security responsibility; Canadian respondents also rated customer data theft as their top worrying outcome of an attack or data breach.
Most interestingly, Canadian firms are conscious of their public image when it comes to cybersecurity — respondents said they are twice as concerned about losing the respect of their peers following a breach vs. the global average, and put increased budget at the top of their wish list for this year.
Within the last 24 months, with the number of security breaches across North America and the world, more organizations are being proactive about security, Sims said.
Trustwave is working with enterprise-level Canadian clients including insurance and financial services organizations and the concern is there — local firms need response plans and strategies along with help around security management, according to Sims.
