South Africa Advances Cyberdefense with Opening of Cyber Security Fusion Centre in Johannesburg -

Liquid Cyber Security, a part of Cassava Technologies, in cooperation with ITC Secure (ITC), a Haven Cyber Technologies company and a portfolio company of C5 Capital, has launched the first of six Cyber Security Fusion Centres across South Africa.

Located in Johannesburg, the first Cyber Security Fusion Centre will provide threat intelligence and brings together the existing Liquid Cloud Operations and Liquid Network Operation Centres. The new facility will provide 24/7 managed cybersecurity detection and response (MDR) services to African enterprises to help protect them from rampant and rising cybercrime, the companies said.

Diverse Cyber Workforce Declared

Haven Cyber Technologies and Liquid Cyber Security announced a program to train 2,000 new cybersecurity professionals — aiming for a 50/50 gender distribution among trainees. Training will be conducted in partnership with leading South African universities, including Haven’s Cyber Academy.

Liquid Cloud and Cyber Security CEO David Behr explained the motivation and timing behind the advance into South Africa’s cybersecurity space:

"Our pan-African Cyber Security Fusion Centres will, when fully operational, leverage our ability to track and predict threats across the continent and will be enhanced by the capability of our international partners like Microsoft, ITC Secure and Xcitium. The alarming rate of cyberattacks led us to launch Liquid Cyber Security in 2020, and today we are elevating the offering for our customers by launching the first Fusion Centre.”

Liquid Cyber Security cited an Interpol report that found South Africa detected 230 million cyberthreats 2021.

Behr noted that one of the most significant advantages of the Cyber Security Fusion Centre is the improvement in the time it would take for an organization to detect and respond to threats faster and smarter.

“As a result, Liquid can now assist its customers in real-time and enable them to be proactive rather than reactive, as well as effectively handle the situation, especially in today's complex threat landscape," he said.

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Cassava Technologies stated that the launch of Security Fusion Centre follows the announcement in December 2021 of a joint agreement between ITC and Cassava to expand security operations and Microsoft cloud security expertise in Africa. Earlier this week, Cassava announced a $50 million strategic investment from C5 Capital to accelerate digital transformation across Africa.

Accordingly, the Microsoft Defender suite of products, deployed within the Security Fusion Centre, enables advanced protection against threats, which feeds signals into the Microsoft Sentinel SIEM/SOAR solution. Cassava notes that “the native integration and platform-wide visibility enables efficient and effective response to any events with built-in automation.”

Cassava President Hardy Pemhiwa welcomed the launch of the Johannesburg facility:

“The launch of the matrix of Cyber Security Fusion Centres will facilitate both collaborative and intelligence-driven security functions to drive proactive responses and faster response times. As a business, we are working towards creating a digitally connected Africa that leaves no one behind, and through these Fusion Centres, we are ensuring that our future is secure.”