ECSG are an AIM-listed, UK-based cyber security specialist who have been protecting companies from hacks, cyber attacks and ransomeware threats for twentysomething years now. London South East interviewed the CEO Ian Mann about the company's latest Trading Results for the half year which were announced yesterday morning, and he told us "We either prevent, monitor or fix these problems, sort of like a fourth emergency service."
As well as a strong set of half year results, Ian announced that the time was right for them to grow the business internationally, not just in the UK and Australia where they already have 24 hour security operations centres.
"Lots of people want to buy our business at the moment, and we get one serious offer to buy the business per month. But we want to take the business internationally, we think we have the relevant experience. Lockdown taught us how to work remotely, and we know now we have the tools and the technologies we need to go out and compete on a bigger scale. We [the management team] are here for the long term."
And what about the competition? "We know Darktrace sell some software, and they make claims about how clever this software is, and that software can help you detect things yourselves. Lots of companies make lots of marketing claims, what they don't tell you is - what level of expertise do you need to configure and make this product work for you? There's nothing wrong with the products, the people selling the products don't also tell you the level of expertise you need. You can install something like Darktrace and you get lots of results - well who is going to interpret those results? Who is going to look at it at 2 o'clock in the morning? In a breach those tools often provided clues but people missed it." explained Ian.