Fredericton-based Bulletproof Launches Security Operation Center
Fredericton IT services company Bulletproof has officially announced the launch of their new Security Operation Center (SOC) and the 15 new jobs created to run it.
The SOC monitors, assesses and defends enterprise information systems like websites, applications, servers and networks. The centre was established to fulfil an increased need for cybersecurity and a lack of security professionals in the field.
Bulletproof is working in collaboration with CyberNB and is one of only two of its kind in the Maritimes.
Bulletproof CEO Steve Burns says having been in the security business for around 15 years, the company has seen an increased number of their customers constantly being attacked or threatened from a cybersecurity perspective.
“We just felt that the only way to combat that was to have a proactive service,” he said. “Most customers we see today are just doing a reactive thing so [if] there’s some type of threat, they deal with it, whereas this is something [where] we’re proactively monitoring people’s systems and we just thought it was the right thing to do. We got a tonne of uptake on it since we started.”
Having been bought by Gaming Laboratories International last year, Bulletproof is able to build relationships and a global client base.
“[GLI has] offices in 20 different countries around the world and customers in all of those countries so there’s a really easy introduction that can happen with those customers. It could be governments, it could be casinos or lotteries, which is what they’re into, but any organization that has information that is sensitive is somebody who could use this service.”
Burns says many of these organizations aren’t monitoring their security enough. They’ve established a system and think it will always hold up against threats. He says this is something that changes when organizations are breached or notice others suffering damages from a breach.
“People don’t want to buy it until it’s too late,” he says. “If a casino gets breached then the next thing you know, there’s a bunch of casinos calling you. If a bank gets breached then you’re talking to banks.”
“It’s usually the bad things that happen that will drive that business but it is something that once they’re implemented into our system then they should have a whole lot better chance of being successful.”
Burns says while the original plan was to create eight jobs initially at the SOC and grow to 25 over five years, they ended up being able to start with 15 due to the demand of cybersecurity. He says they now expect to reach a staff of 25 in the next two years. He says in the future there may also be the possibility of a secondary centre in the U.S.
“For me, success would look like something where we have been successful in bringing those customers from outside, beyond New Brunswick and Atlantic Canada and bringing those into Canada … so that we’re exporting the service,” he says.
“We’re pretty excited about it. It’s a big investment and we think that we’ve got a really good product to show the rest of the world.”