Romanian cybersecurity firm Safetech will officially launch its presence in the UK on 23 May 2023, highlighting the recent growth of the UK cybersecurity sector.
Plans to build a Security Operations Center (SOC) at the London-based Plexal Innovation Hub were announced during the company’s launch event. Her partner, Anca Stancu, co-founder and managing director of Safetech Innovations Global Services, said the UK will support her Safetech’s ambition to protect critical infrastructure around the world and scale globally. Said it was the ideal place to make it happen.
He highlighted various factors that led cyber intelligence firms to invest in the UK, including government support programs, cultural affinities and the size of the country’s cybersecurity market, which generated revenues of £10.5 billion in 2022. .
“The UK has a special framework to help establish its leadership in cybersecurity and the government support is unparalleled in Europe,” commented Stank.
He also emphasized that the UK has “a huge pool of talented and skilled employees that we have access to”. All of this will give the Plexal Innovation Center at Here East in Stratford, London the tools to build his 24/7 SOC, which will ultimately serve both UK and global customers. provide service.
In addition, Safetech is currently working on developing two products. One is related to information security compliance and the other is mobile anti-malware technology. “These products are manufactured in the UK and sold worldwide,” Mr Stank said.
The company plans to create 15 cyber jobs in the UK by the end of 2023 and 50 jobs by the end of 2024.
Building partnerships
Bogdan Mihailescu, Counselor for Commercial and Economic Affairs at the Romanian Embassy in the UK, spoke during the event and expressed his excitement that Romanian cyber companies have chosen the UK as a base for their business growth.
“For a company that has reached maturity in the Romanian market and has a vision of becoming a global player, this is a natural step, because entering a large and successful market like the UK, All the conditions are in place and all financial instruments will be available for global expansion,” he outlined.
Mihailescu emphasized that Romania’s IT sector has grown tremendously in recent years, accounting for 7% of the country’s GDP and employing more than 220,000 individuals. He pointed out that the company’s expertise in cybersecurity was recognized by the fact that Bucharest was chosen as the headquarters of the European Cybersecurity Competence Center (ECCC), which opened earlier this month (May 2023). This organization supports and coordinates cybersecurity innovations across Europe.
He said this would make Romania an ideal strategic partner for the UK in the area of cybersecurity, highlighting the close ties between the two countries in this area.
Meanwhile, Plexal’s Director of Innovation, Saj Huq, highlighted innovation companies’ efforts to help high-tech SMEs develop products and expand their businesses. He said Plexal has worked with more than 500 cyber startups in this space, promoting cooperation between governments, industry investors and end-users. He hopes that SafeTech will also benefit from this.
“A lot of the time, our work involves building ecosystems, bringing people together in places like this to innovate, work together, build products together, and figure out how to distribute them to the market. ,” commented Huq.
geography matters
Responding to questions from the audience, Stank said that Romania’s geographic location (bordering with NATO member states and Ukraine, as well as being close to Russia) has contributed to increasing geopolitical tensions and the growing threat of nation-wide cyberattacks. Emphasized that it means to be very sensitive.
This geography makes Romania itself a prime target for nation-state attacks, she noted. This experience has “trained us to look for new ways to protect our infrastructure.”
Stank said that continuous innovation is key to cybersecurity in this context, stressing the importance of giving engineers the freedom to explore new ideas and concepts.
