Computest Security has acquired the Spanish company Incide. In doing so, it has expanded its own incident response expertise. Founder and CEO Hartger Ruijs, however, speaks mainly of a match that will eventually prevent other large parties from gobbling up all promising security companies.
The company that is now known as Computest Group made several significant changes. For example, in terms of Devops, it acquired CloseSure and SYSQA before establishing the new Heeyoo in early June. That was an essential step for Computest’s long-term plans, Ruijs believes in conversation with Techzine. Computest Security has its sights set on Europe, but in that regard, it is not just looking for haphazard acquisitions to ensure rapid growth.
“Besides strengthening our capacity and expertise in incident response, we were looking for an organization that fits our culture in which our people and customers are central,” Ruijs says. “With Incide, we have found such a company. Incide shares our vision of advancing security, has a similar organizational culture, and has built a strong track record since its founding in 2005. Together we want to expand our organization further and have other ambitious security companies with the same mindset and passion join us to continue the growth within Europe.”
Independent in Europe
Computest Security’s objective is explicit in the press release: it wants to take a first step toward becoming an independent European security company with the acquisition. One thus explains the acquisition rather as a collaboration, which can also be read from Incide founder Abraham Pasamar’s quote.
“We are excited to become part of Computest Security and build together a strong European security organization. As the security market continues to consolidate and customers increasingly operate internationally, it is important to have sufficient clout. Joining forces with Computest Security will create a strong synergy that will allow us to address a larger market and benefit our customers and employees.”
Incide knows a lot about the current threats at play in the security world. It also has “advanced adversary simulation” in-house in addition to endpoint security offerings. In short, there is an overlap with Computest Security’s services, but it also has its own strengths. Ruijs speaks of a similar corporate culture, which is far from self-evident. For example, the company has plans to move into the DACH region (Germany, Austria, Switzerland) in addition to Iberia. There, the cultural match proves more difficult to find, because organizations there are a bit more formal, according to Ruijs.
Corporate culture
In addition to Incide’s qualities as a security player, the Spanish location is also advantageous in other respects. It is an emerging market and the education there is “super good,” says Ruijs—certainly a plus in a world where IT knowledge is hard to find. But: culturally and in terms of knowledge area, it has to fit. In that respect, there is another somewhat striking similarity between the two companies: both date back to 2005 and aim to make security manageable for companies.
With the move into Europe, Computest Security does try to maintain its own identity. In previous media appearances, the motto “work hard, play hard” has fallen more often than not, alongside the line of thought that a happy group of employees also leads to happy customers. This is still the thinking Ruijs wants to lead the company with as it moves further into Europe.