John Mc Loughlin, group CEO and sales director at J2.
South African cyber security firm J2 Software, with existing UK offices, is set to expand its footprint in the UK, Europe and Australia.
John Mc Loughlin, group CEO and sales director at J2, made the announcement at the company’s office launch at its Johannesburg headquarters on Thursday evening.
Mc Loughlin said the company aims to be a global security services business with its roots in SA.
The company has nearly 50 staff members, including interns.
“We outgrew our previous office space as we brought more capability and more capacity. We are in the process of setting out ongoing growth plans and staffing because we are looking to expand and bring in new people. We are definitely looking to grow.”
The company was founded in 2006 by Mc Loughlin and Jason Neilson, after identifying an opportunity in the IT market in SA and the rest of Africa for effective internally focused security and compliance solutions.
“When we first launched, our focus was around information security compliance. We’ve always had a heavy focus on starting from where the people are interacting with systems, machines and data. As opposed to the legacy way of thinking, which was you had to protect the parameter only, we have, since the outset, started from the inside working our way out. I like to joke that we did cyber security before it existed because back then it was never called cyber security.”
Cyber security landscape in SA
Speaking to ITWeb, Mc Loughlin said SA is similar to many other countries, citing limited law enforcement capacity making cyber crimes nearly impossible to track.
“South African businesses are vulnerable to cyber attacks, just like their global counterparts. However, most organisations do not actually understand the size of the risk and they think it won’t happen to them until it does. Unfortunately, most people don’t care about cyber security until a criminal forces them to care.
“The reality is organisations need to take active measures to keep themselves secure or they will encounter an issue. The average time to recover and be fully operational again is about two weeks or even longer.”
According to him, most local companies aren’t investing wisely in cyber security. They’re spending more than ever, but the results are inadequate because they’re buying single-point solutions that don’t address their specific risks. He reiterated the importance of a holistic approach, as there is no single ‘silver bullet’ to mitigate all cyber security risks.
The new J2 offices in Randpark Ridge, Johannesburg.
Bridging the skills gap
According to Mc Loughlin, the skills gap is not a new concept in SA. “If you look at the number of vacant posts in any industry, specialised skills always appear to be in short supply. The reality is people need to develop the skills that they need, which is part of the reason we bring interns. If you can’t find the skills, build them.”
He pointed out that the shortage is exacerbated by limited access to quality education and the unrealistic expectation of many organisations seeking 10 years of experience even in technologies that have only been around for five years.
