US cybersecurity start-up announces Belfast centre with up to 120 jobs

A California-headquartered cybersecurity company is to establish its first operation in Northern Ireland as part of an international expansion project that will create up to 120 jobs.

Contrast Security, which was recently named by Forbes as one of the next US start-ups to most likely become a $1 billion company, intends to establish a new development centre in Belfast.

The US company has developed a software security platform that enables software developers to “easily and quickly” write secure software. Its primary objective is to make software safe from cyber attacks by automatically detecting and fixing vulnerabilities and also defending against possible attacks and bots.

According to Alan Naumann, chief executive at Contrast Security, Northern Ireland's growing cybersecurity sector was one of the key reasons why the US company chose to establish its centre in Belfast.

Google wins in ‘right to be forgotten’ fight with France

---

Malin’s troubled main shareholder Woodford sells most of stake

---

Row erupts over Eir’s new rural broadband network

---

Huawei takes on Apple’s new iPhone 11 with Mate 30 range

---

Invest NI says that in the North there are currently almost 1,700 cybersecurity professionals who are receiving combined salaries of more than £70 million (€79 million) each year.

Mr Naumann said: “There are 30 million developers worldwide and our job is to enable them to easily deliver software that is inherently secure and built to withstand sophisticated attacks.

Expand our footprint

"To do this, we have ambitious plans to expand our footprint across Europe and the team here in Northern Ireland will be crucial to helping us achieve this. Access to experienced professionals, strong technical universities, and the proximity to our European customer base makes Northern Ireland the right choice for this new centre."

Contrast Security provides services to companies that operate across a number of sectors from financial services to eCommerce, retail, insurance, healthcare, enterprise IT and technology companies.

Invest Northern Ireland is backing its investment project in the North with financial support totalling £786,500.

Alastair Hamilton, Invest NI chief executive said: "Cybersecurity is one of the greatest challenges facing the public, private and third-party sectors. In today's digital world every major company across almost every industry is building software to empower the digital experiences consumers expect.

“The new centre will include an R&D team of software developers to help create new innovative products, along with sales and marketing teams to support the company’s European growth plans.”