Accenture is to buy Australian cybersecurity firm CyberCX in its largest-ever deal in the sector, with the Australian Financial Review valuing the transaction at more than A$1 billion.
Private equity firm BGH Capital, which is selling CyberCX, did not disclose any financial terms. Accenture declined to provide additional details, while BGH Capital didn’t respond to Reuters‘ requests for comment on the reported valuation.
The deal underscores the surging demand for advanced digital security services as businesses worldwide face increasingly sophisticated cyber threats that disrupt operations and compromise sensitive data.
Melbourne-based CyberCX was formed in 2019 through the merger of 12 smaller cyber security firms backed by BGH Capital.
The company now employs about 1,400 people and runs security operations centres across Australia and New Zealand, with offices in London and New York.
CyberCX is led by John Paitaridis, formerly managing director of Optus Business, and chief strategy officer Alastair MacGibbon, Australia’s former national cybersecurity coordinator.
The leadership’s ties to Optus are notable, given the telecommunications company’s 2022 data breach, which exposed names, birth dates, addresses, phone numbers, email contacts and passport and driver’s licence numbers.
Since 2015, Accenture has completed 20 security acquisitions, including recent purchases of Brazilian cyber defence firm Morphus, MNEMO Mexico and Spain-based Innotec Security.
In Australia, the company entered into a A$700 million collaborative agreement with Telstra in February, aiming to implement AI capabilities across the telecommunications company.
A wave of devastating cyber attacks has battered Australia, including a 2022 breach at Optus that exposed the personal data of up to 10 million users, and a hack on health insurer Medibank affecting nearly 10 million customers.
Last month, Qantas Airways disclosed that criminals had infiltrated one of its call centres, accessing personal information of six million customers.
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