Sydney-based Securicy, which helps medium-sized enterprises meet the cybersecurity requirements of larger customers, has launched free tools to help startups protect their data.
The company announced Wednesday that its new platform is now live, and that it can help young companies understand what they need to do to protect themselves from cyber-criminals.
Securicy was formed in 2016 with the idea that SMEs needed to meet certain cybersecurity thresholds to win contracts from major multi-nationals. But these smaller companies often don’t even know what the requirements are and lose business as a result. Securicy provides a roadmap of what they need to do and helps them implement cybersecurity policies.
“People believe this myth that securing their data comes at a high cost, but that’s not the case anymore,” said Co-Founder and CEO Darren Gallop in a statement. “We are handing over the essential free tools needed to start a strong information security program.”
Gallop and his co-founder Laird Wilton began Securicy when their former startup Marcato Digital, which provides admin software to music festivals and other events, learned it needed cybersecurity certification to work with major corporations like Walt Disney Co. So they launched a new startup that would help others learn what needed to be done in the cybersecurity field.
The company was accepted early in 2018 into the Boston cohort of the prestigious Techstars accelerator, which Gallop says has been a huge help in developing the product and expanding the network.
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The other major milestone last year was the sale of Marcato in October to Pittsburgh-based Patron Technology for an undisclosed sum. Though Gallop had handed off the day-to-day management of Marcato to others, he said that the sale has allowed him to focus “full-time, 100-percent” on the newer venture, which has been a great relief.
Securicy, which has 13 full-time employees, sells mainly to companies with staffs of 40 to 150 people, and Gallop said its sales have increased about 25 percent since October.
In an interview, Gallop said that his team at Securicy has found that small companies are now learning that they have to upgrade their cybersecurity protocols even to work with mid-sized companies.
In an interview, Gallop said the goal of the free tool released this week is to give a company with fewer than 10 employees the chance to understand the fundamentals of protecting its data. Once the companies adopt the Securicy platform and grow, there is an opportunity for the Sydney company to sell them more sophisticated products so they’re able to win larger contracts without cybersecurity posing problems. He added that Tier 1 investment firms are starting to insist that the companies they back have a cybersecurity program in place, and other investors are considering such a requirement.
The free tools include a customized set of policies that users can edit and configure to meet their own needs, and the ability to track the activity of up to five of their staff members.
Gallop said a lot of companies buy cybersecurity software but don’t even use all the features available to them.
“You should really do this stuff early in the game,” he said. “If you wait . . . you’re really putting yourself in a position where you could lose a deal because of a technicality.”