EY has announced that it will be launching two cybersecurity centres in New Zealand, with one in Auckland, a second in Wellington, and a potential third located in Christchurch.
These cybersecurity centre will offer 24-hour cybersecurity services, and are supported by Microsoft Azure Sentinel, a cloud native security information and event management (SIEM) software solution.
When combined with Microsoft’s cloud security software, EY’s new cybersecurity facilities may provide customers with greater protection from cyber threats and hacking attempts.
EY and Microsoft will collaborate to deliver a Unified SIEM and Security Orchestration, Automation, and Response (SOAR), a Modern Security Operations Centre, and Operational Technology that is covered with Extended Detection and Response (XDR) capabilities that may prevent, detect, and respond to threats across IT and cloud platforms.
Ramping Up NZ’s Preparedness for Cyber Attacks
Nicola Hermansson, EY NZ cyber consulting lead, observed that end-users and customers in New Zealand were likely to find cybersecurity software increasingly necessary, to protect their businesses even as they embrace hybrid work and adopt online cloud solutions for operations.
“New Zealand has experienced unprecedented levels of cyber-attacks in recent years. Businesses are now embracing hybrid work more than ever, and while that has been great for flexibility, it’s also increased workers’ exposure to cyber threats. Many of our clients are just too busy in the current environment to invest time and resource into detecting and responding effectively to a modern cyber-attack, let alone proactively working to reduce risk.”
She affirmed that EY would be filling a crucial gap in the NZ cybersecurity market. “Too often we talk to clients whose cyber security provider runs everything from offshore or small onshore capabilities.
However, a security provider based exclusively overseas will never understand the intricacies of the New Zealand market, or be fully across all of the threats we’re exposed to. By having local professionals, along with our capability across the globe, we’re able to keep our finger on the pulse locally and provide a personalised service. We’re already working with some well-known New Zealand companies, and they really like having a local team.”
Vanessa Sorenson, Managing Director at Microsoft New Zealand, expressed her support for Microsoft’s partnership with EY, and noted that cybersecurity solutions are crucial to allow the smooth functioning of New Zealand’s businesses.
“In the rush to digitise and move to cloud, security continues to be an afterthought for many businesses, so having more experience and access to world-leading managed services would make a real difference to local businesses’ resilience.”
“We’re excited about our ongoing work with EY because it will mean more Kiwi organisations have access to services that will help improve their security, protect customers’ privacy and data, and make New Zealand an even more attractive place to do business.”
“Cybersecurity Implementation” is a key sub-category under the awards category “Outstanding IT and Cloud Projects: at this year’s .Media Asia Pacific Cloud & Datacenter Awards programme, where enterprise users and industry experts will come together to share their insights and opinions on IT and cloud innovations. If you are interested in nominating or sponsoring, visit our Awards Page for more information. Nominations are open until 31st July.
