CSC opens major security centre in Sydney

Giant integrator CSC has opened its first "Security Operations Centre" in Australia in Sydney, while claiming the mantle of the biggest consumer of HP ArcSight in the world.

CSC's global portfolio executive for cybersecurity, Gordon Archibald, told CRN that the Sydney facilities will join existing commercial SOCs in the US, UK, India and Malaysia. The Sydney centre will house 70 staff, with 120 in CSC's overall cybersecurity team in Australia.

The Australian executive said it has taken three years to build a co-operative network of centres with "identical architecture and identical controls", but was careful to point out the support model was not follow-the-sun.

"Each individual SOC runs 24x7 – so it's not follow-the-sun – they each provide high level of service to local customers and seamlessly share information between SOCs.

"For example, if the UK identifies a threat, it will analyse it then send out key indicators to the other SOCs. We would then create our own scripts and fixes then share it with other regions," Archibald told CRN.

The international network of SOCs is manned by a team of 700 staff, according to the company. The firm's total global pool of security specialists numbers 1,900, providing coverage for more than 250 clients.

Archibald said the multinational also runs two government-only SOCs in the US and UK, kept deliberately separate from the commercial operations.

Cybersecurity is big business for CSC, with Archibald telling CRN: "We are the biggest commercial consumer of Hewlett Packard's ArcSight in the world."

Recently appointed Australian vice president and general manager Seelan Nayagam said: "The launch of a dedicated SOC in Sydney will provide clients in Australia with a robust and secure platform to conduct their business with ease and confidence, while CSC focuses on their security."

Archibald said the Sydney SOC is located in the company's existing presence in the Macquarie Park technology precinct in northern Sydney.

"We have ready access to skilled resources in Macquarie Park and the facility is already government-certified, which is important as we already have some government clients.

"The old days of security being an IT thing is gone. It's now the responsibility of the executive management and board," said Archibald.

The news comes after the April announcement of CSC's partnership with Amazon to open a "cloud centre of excellence" in Texas, to assist clients utilise AWS.

Last month, CSC reported annual global revenues of over $13 billion. The integrator hires 79,000 people and started 50 years ago in the US as Computer Sciences Corporation.