BT announces huge investment in Safe Security to assess and combat cyber risk

BT has announced huge investment in Safe Security to assess and combat cyber risk. With the number and impact of cyber attacks continuing to increase rapidly, BT has announced a multi-million pound investment in Safe Security. Their SAFE (‘Security Assessment Framework for Enterprises’) technology, based in Silicon Valley, allows businesses to assess their current defences and determine their risk of being hit by a large cyber assault.

According to industry estimates, the cost of global cyber crime will exceed $1 trillion by 2020, as thieves take advantage of seismic shifts in everyday life to target individuals and businesses of all sorts. With high-profile recent cyber attacks affecting important areas such as energy infrastructure and medical care, corporations and governments are under enormous pressure to assess how well they are secured against the latest kinds of cyber attack objectively.

With the investment, BT will be able to combine the SAFE platform with its industry-leading managed security services to give clients a real-time perspective of how safe they are in the face of an ever-changing cyber threat scenario. SAFE is the only company that can calculate the financial cost of a customer’s risk and provide proactive advice on how to solve it. The technology, which already defends a number of Fortune 500 firms and governments around the world, enables organisations to precisely target vulnerabilities in their defences.

Philip Jansen, Chief Executive of BT, said: “Cyber security is now at the top of the agenda for businesses and governments, who need to be able to trust that they’re protected against increasing levels of attack. Adding SAFE to BT’s proactive, predictive security services will give customers an enhanced view of their threat level, and rapidly pinpoint specific actions needed to strengthen their defences. Already one of the world’s leading providers in a highly fragmented security market, this investment is a clear sign of BT’s ambition to grow further.”

Saket Modi, Co-founder and CEO of Safe Security, said: “We’re delighted to be working with a proven global security leader in BT. Their investment and strategic partnership with Safe Security will further accelerate our vision of making SAFE scores the industry standard for measuring and mitigating cyber risks. By aligning BT’s global reach and capabilities with SAFE’s ability to provide real-time visibility on cyber risk posture, we are going to fundamentally change how cyber security is measured and managed across the globe.”

BT will be given exclusive rights to use and market SAFE to businesses and public sector organisations in the UK as part of this investment, and the platform will be integrated into its wider worldwide portfolio. BT will be identified as the recommended global partner for enhancing a customer’s SAFE score due to its experience in offering security solutions to organisations all over the world. BT will also collaborate with Safe Security on future product development.