NEW YORK, NY, April 10, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Cyber Security 1 (OTCQX: CYBNY) (Nasdaq First North: CYB1.ST), an international leader in cyber security, is coming off of its best year ever with record quarterly and annual revenues, a growing global footprint, an impressive client list, a thriving mergers and acquisition strategy and now in 2019 a newly appointed Chief Executive Officer.
Due to the company’s success in 2018, it is now positioned as a leader on the world stage, and CYBER1 is entering a new and critical phase in its evolution. The company will enter this new phase with Nick Viney, CYBER1’s newly appointed CEO, who joined the company after a successful 7-year career at McAfee. In addition to McAfee, Nick Viney’s resume is comprised of several impressive senior management positions at a number of the world’s largest global technology companies, including Microsoft, Google, eBay and Arthur Andersen. He has closed some of the largest corporate and consumer cyber security deals over the last decade and managed a customer portfolio of nearly 150-million users.
Stock Market Media Group (SMMG) caught up with Nick Viney to discuss the company’s success in 2018, its plans for future growth, and much more.
SMMG: Worldwide terms like “cyber security” and “cyber resilience” are being used more often as the number of connected devices continues to grow dramatically every year—for investors trying to make decisions about the companies they invest in, what do these terms mean exactly and why is cyber resilience necessary?
Nick Viney: “There is a subtle, but tangible difference when discussing overall cyber security and cyber resilience.
“So often when companies and government organizations are breached, they will have had various forms of cyber security measures deployed within their Information Technology infrastructure. In addition, companies generally will have best practice policies and procedures in the event of a cyber security breach that may make them compliant with a particular national or international security framework. The reality, however, is that maintaining compliance will not be enough to achieve ‘cyber resilience,’ which has to affect an organizations fundamental culture in how it conducts its business. Only then can one think about drastically reducing the risks associated.
“Furthermore, cyber resilience is the practice of decreasing the threat of attacks before they arise by ensuring that systems and services are wrapped in layers of almost impenetrable protection. While it is impossible to guarantee full protection against any unwanted intrusion, our aim is to provide the latest and most innovative solutions available to increase the presence of guardianship and reduce the reward to suspecting criminals.
“The risk of further breaches is only set to increase with more of us around the world online and constant new developments within the Internet Of Things (IoT) and Bring Your Own Devices (BYOD). This means that individually and collectively, we must make a conscious effort to be cyber resilient to truly protect our key information from being exposed.”
SMMG: What types of companies and organizations make an ideal client for CYBER1 and what solutions does the company offer its clients to achieve cyber resilience?
Nick Viney: “The short answer is that any entity, regardless of size, where there is an access or exit point installed, there is a potential client organization. And while we specialize in providing solutions to those mid-market enterprises, we also work with larger-scale institutions from around the world.
“Across our jurisdictions we have an array of clients within various industries and sizes. We work with international financial services, government departments and police forces, to national telecommunications companies to up and coming SME’s. The reality of existing and developing cyber vulnerabilities means that size and scope are not a factor when determining an organization’s potential susceptibility, as they are all vulnerable to breaches of information.
“Our solution to achieve critical cyber resilience for our clients is to garner our knowledge and years of experience from our accredited staff and then combine this with our 100-plus vendor relationships we have accumulated. This ensures that we have covered every area of established, emergent and future-proof technologies. We then tailor our specific cyber solutions to each individual client by putting together our real-life experience along with those of our vendors to give our client organizations the best available protection against an increasingly sophisticated network or single agent criminals.”
SMMG: CYBER1 is growing an impressive global footprint by acquiring a number of solid growth companies—what are the company’s goals on the global stage currently and into the near future, and are there any plans to grow into the United States?
Nick Viney: “We have grown organically and systematically through a planned series of strategic acquisitions—with a rigorously executed merger & acquisition blueprint that has delivered multiple new geographies, additional personnel (both technical and commercial) and vendor relationships both niche and mainstream. In doing so, we have levelled our regional reliance on Africa to a more even spread across Africa, Europe and the Middle East.”
SMMG: Are the acquisitions intended to meet the needs of clients in the acquired company’s home country or is your intention to allow CYBER1 to offer a broader range of services under one umbrella with each company adding a separate piece to CYBER1’s suite of services globally?
Nick Viney: “We continuously look to see how our latest offering meets the needs of our clients based on the changing regulatory and overall cyber security landscape. There is certainly a dual benefit when we acquire and integrate companies into CYBER1.
“Our acquisitions will either expand or consolidate our geographical footprint, combined with acquiring highly skilled and accredited staff, which enables us to stay ahead of the curve in case of a global shortage of cyber security professionals.
“We have seen in the last 18 months the tangible benefit of cross subsidiary collaboration with upselling within existing client bases where trust in our services has already been established. This was the key driver in realizing 67 percent organic revenue growth within CYBER1 in 2018, and it will continue to be a key focus this year. We are able to deliver within our existing client base a total solution for their specific needs and this is where targeted acquisitions ensure that we provide the latest technologies and services for them.”
SMMG: Can you discuss each company and its role in the overall suite of services that CYBER1 offers clients?
Nick Viney: “Broadly speaking, our services are split into three main categories. First, in Credence Security, we have our suite of 100-plus vendors that offer a mixture of cyber security, forensics and GRC (Governance Risk and Compliance) solutions to our clients. We are agnostic in our approach to ensure that the client’s needs are met first and foremost, working in tandem with our product specialists across the company.
“Second, in Cognosec, our advisory team provides a highly accredited and technical skill base to assess vulnerabilities and achieve regulatory compliance with world governing standards, including PCI, SWIFT, and other regulatory frameworks in ISO 27001 and NIST. Importantly, and as mentioned earlier, these frameworks are just the beginning in ensuring our clients are resilient, as many companies who just adhere to these standards can still be susceptible to breaches.
“The third and most rapidly expanding part of the business lies within the Managed Service Provider (MSP) space. In line with market trends, we see clients who want just one partner, to add to their select group of legal and auditor counsel. MSPs are a natural extension of what we have done previously in being trusted advisors, and in this context, we further extend and take ownership within a 24/7/365 format.
“For these companies, creating and managing the security risk internally is a timely and extremely expensive process except for the small group of multinational companies. All of those outside this small percentile still need to ensure their risk is minimized and CYBER1 can help meet their needs in producing a total management and procedural understanding, from identifying gap assessments to incident response and management.”
SMMG: As your global footprint continues to grow, have you identified other acquisitions that demonstrate the growth you’re looking for and that can give CYBER1 a broader reach worldwide?
Nick Viney: “We have a pipeline of over twenty acquisitions at various stages, most recently with IntaForensics in the UK. While working closely with our Global Advisory Board we originate all of the deals that we complete here at CYBER1. With the Board’s assistance, we look at current and new geographical areas that would add intrinsic value across our entire offering.
“To maintain such high organic growth into the future, as well as through acquisitions, leveraging our offering on a global scale will be key to unlocking that potential. Importantly, the companies we acquire understand how we can help them accelerate their potential by empowering their business with greater scale than ever before.
“We value bringing those companies into the business and taking them on a collective journey with our initial subsidiaries that were part of our IPO, now at the heart of our organic growth. We look forward to working with our newer subsidiaries in realizing the same in 2019 and beyond.”
SMMG: Your latest Q4 filing shows that CYBER1’s current growth strategy is clearly working—talk to us about the numbers you’ve released and what is it in those numbers that has you most excited about your strategy moving forward?
Nick Viney: “You can see from the latest financial statement that topline year-over-year growth has increased considerably. One point that we are extremely proud of is maintaining the 67-69 percent year-to-date organic revenue growth over the last two quarters. This is demonstrative of the internal opportunities that exist with our current client base and that they are seeking multiple solutions and services from us.
“Combined with our acquisitions, we achieved a total revenue growth of 159 percent, from €17.19 million EUR to €44.54 million EUR. Some of our acquisitions were only included from July 13, 2018, so we will realize a full twelve-month revenue in 2019 also.
“It isn’t just revenue that we are focused on however. Excluding new acquisitions within 2018, we had an increase in operating expenditure of just 1 percent, which magnifies the organic growth story that we achieved in 2018 even further and credit must go to the business heads.
“Moving into 2019, we are optimistic in achieving further growth from current entities and through key acquisition targets.”
SMMG: Cyber Security 1, formerly known as Cognosec, became a publicly traded company in 2016 on the NASDAQ First North exchange in Stockholm, Sweden, and then in 2018, became public in the U.S. on the OTCQX exchange—What future plans does the company have in the U.S.?
Nick Viney: “Looking at the American market is a natural evolution in CYBER1’s continued expansion. Working with our new Chairman of the Global Advisory Board, Joseph
Grano Jr., who is the former CEO and Chairman of UBS Paine Webber and the Chairman of the U.S. Homeland Security Advisory Council, has been hugely beneficial in gaining an insight into this region. CYBER1 looks forward to working closely with Joe in utilizing his extensive knowledge and expertise within this market and how we can realize a strong and dynamic presence in 2019.
“More broadly, we continue to assess the long-term strategic objectives for CYBER1 over the next three to five years in relation to our listing as a publicly traded company. NASDAQ First North provides CYBER1 with a strong foundation that facilitates our increasing internal structure and corporate governance that has been required.
“Looking forward, and once further internal alignment has been realized, the CYBER1 board continues to assess the options surrounding our listing to ensure that CYBER1’s growth continues in the same trajectory it has previously experienced.”
SMMG: Finally, talk to us about your experience and that of the Board of Directors and how both can enhance the reputation and value of CYBER1?
Nick Viney: “My background includes a number of years in the cyber security and technology spaces. I gained significant experience working in leadership roles in companies that range from Google to Microsoft to eBay, and most recently at McAfee where I was responsible for Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA) in the Consumer, Mobile and Small Medium Business markets. While at McAfee, I also served as the Senior Vice President in the enterprise space for UK, Ireland and Africa.
“There are a number of similarities between my work in the past and my future at CYBER1 in terms of the areas of business, and I look forward to driving the commercial strategy in new enterprise while looking internally and achieving further robust internal governance across the existing and newly acquired companies.
“We take pride in having a Board of Directors with a variety of experiences and backgrounds that originate from either government or business roles and provide specific and strategic value to our offering within CYBER1.
“Our founder and Chairman of the Board, Kobus Paulsen, is a visionary in identifying, from the outset, the need for a resilient cyber security provider for any company. His methodology in acquiring companies at the right growth stage has been instrumental in our overall development. The buy and build strategy combined with our organic growth will continue to push the company forward as we look to take the next significant step in our journey.
“Lord Anthony St John of Bletso, plays a pivotal role on the Artificial Intelligence and Information Committee within the House of Lords.
“Neira Jones and Patrick Boylan both possess extensive senior executive experience within the payment industry at both Barclaycard and NatWest respectively, working closely on the issues of payment security for the hundreds of millions of customers between the two.
“Finally, our newest Board member, Daryn Stilwell, possess an extensive legal background with senior roles at Visa, Worldpay and Deutsche Bank.
“Combining all of these backgrounds and their experiences together, gives CYBER1 a broad but specialized focus in cyber security and regulatory understanding for our clients. This wealth of experience continues to drive CYBER1, and I have thoroughly enjoyed their energy and passion for the company and the industry in my short tenure to date as CEO.”
Read our latest research on CYBER1: http://www.stockmarketmediagroup.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/CYBER1-Report.pdf
About Cyber Security 1
CYBER1 is engaged in providing cyber resilience solutions and conducts its operations through physical presences in Sweden, South Africa, the UK, Kenya, Germany, Austria, Turkey, Greece, Italy, the Ukraine and the United Arab Emirates. Listed on Nasdaq First North (Nasdaq: CYB1.ST) and as an American Depositary Receipt (OTCQX: CYBNY), the Group delivers services and technology licenses to enhance clients’ protections against unwanted intrusions, to provide and enhance cyber resilience and to prevent various forms of information theft. For further information, please visit www.cyber1.com/investors.
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About Stock Market Media Group
Stock Market Media Group is a Content Development IR firm offering a platform for corporate stories to unfold in the media with research reports, corporate videos, radio-style CEO interviews and feature news articles. This article was written based upon publicly available information. Stock Market Media Group may, from time to time, include our own opinions about the companies, their business, markets and opportunities in our articles. Any opinions we may offer about any of the companies we write about are solely our own, and are made in reliance upon our rights under the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, and are provided solely for the general opinionated discussion of our readers. Our opinions should not be considered to be complete, precise, accurate, or current investment advice, or construed or interpreted as research. Any investment decisions you may make concerning any of the securities we write about are solely your responsibility based on your own due diligence. Our publications are provided only as an informational aid, and as a starting point for doing additional independent research. We encourage you to invest carefully and read the investor information available at the web site of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission at: www.sec.gov, where you can also find all of CYBNY’s filings and disclosures. We also recommend, as a general rule, that before investing in any securities, you consult with a professional financial planner or advisor, and you should conduct a complete and independent investigation before investing in any security after prudent consideration of all pertinent risks. We are not a registered broker, dealer, analyst, or advisor. We hold no investment licenses and may not sell, offer to sell or offer to buy any security. Our publications about CYBNY are not a recommendation to buy or sell a security. Section 17(b) of the 1933 Securities and Exchange Act requires publishers who distribute information about publicly traded securities for compensation, to disclose who paid them, the amount, and the type of payment. Under the Securities Act of 1933, Section 17(b), Stock Market Media Group discloses that it was remunerated seven thousand dollars paid for by a third party via bank wire, to produce content related to Cyber Security 1.
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