Innovating cyber security companies to watch in the Thames Valley
With cyber attacks on the rise, it's become increasingly vital that both individuals and organisations do their utmost to reduce the risk of coming under such a potentially damaging attack.
If you fancy nominating a cyber security company you think deserves recognition for a TV Tech Award, you can do so here. You can also nominate any tech firm you wish, there are some 12 categories in all.
Both hardware and software are vulnerable to targeted hacks, leaving financial exploitation a very real possibility for all of us. That may mean a personal loss of a few hundred pounds - an annoying but survivable breach. It may also mean a sophisticated cyber attack on the online infrastructure of a large company or institution which results in huge monetary losses, enormous data breaches and even a very real existential threat.
This is why cyber security is so very vital in today's society. Tech companies specialising in it are the first and sometimes last line of defence, offering extremely clever methods of protection.
With October's 2022 Thames Valley Tech Awards just a few months away, we thought we'd cast our eye over some of the region's most innovative and impressive cyber security firms. Here are just some of the companies at the forefront of the sector:
Symantec - Reading
Okay, so we're hardly kicking off our round-up with an unknown up-and-comer. But when you've got a cybersecurity software organisation like Symantec on your doorstep, it seems churlish to just ignore them.
A giant Fortune 500 company with annual revenue exceeding $2.5bn, they're still widely known as Symantec, but really the company's official name is NortonLifeLock (it changed in 2019). The Arizona-HQ'd organisation has their UK base on the Reading International Business Park.
They don't just protect devices with software, they also look after cloud services and data centres for some of the world's largest and most complex organisations. As well as providing a whole host of other bleeding edge cyber security services for their clients.
Cyderes - Reading
If the name 'Cyderes' is somewhat unfamiliar to you, don't worry. You've not taken your finger off the IT pulse. It's the new name of a merger between Fishtech and Herjavec Group.
In the UK the company is based out of The White Building on Reading's business hub Kings Road.
The business describes what it does like this: 'Cyderes is a global cybersecurity powerhouse offering comprehensive solutions in managed security, identity and access management, and professional services for the modern enterprise.' Or, if you prefer... 'a human-led, machine driven security operations automation SECaaS solution for Enterprise Managed Detection & Response.'
Carbon Black - Reading
Leading next-generation security cloud providers Carbon Black have their British operation headquartered here in the Thames Valley. Acquired by VMWare back in 2019 for $2.1bn, the endpoint security specialists effectively became their buyer's security wing.
Well thought of as a leading light by those in the industry, the Massachusetts firm started off life back in 2002 as Bit9 and steadily built from there.
Like competitors Cyderes, VMWare Carbon Black operate out of The White Building in Reading town centre.
RSA - Bracknell
RSA are a cyber security with history. As much as that's possible with a technology company of their kind. Respected mainstays though they may be, the 1982-founded American firm are by no means stuck in past. Their main base is in Bedford, Massachusetts, with offices across the world. The primary European office can be found in the Berkshire town of Bracknell.
READ MORE: Why the Thames Valley is a leading cyber security cluster
