Advantage has employed the services of Dr Bryce Antony in response to the increasing demand for cybersecurity mitigation strategies.

Antony will play a crucial part in adding more capability to the company's security operations centre where he will focus on addressing increasingly complex cybersecurity risks to New Zealand businesses.

He brings an extensive practical and theoretical background to cybersecurity innovation, with specialised expertise in information systems, security management, governance frameworks, incident response/forensics, and risk modelling.

He also holds a PhD focused on cybersecurity capability and risk modelling, a master of information security and digital forensics (1st class hons), along with an MBA.

Teaching and delivery is also a key skill that Antony brings to the company. Providing services for both The University of Auckland and Auckland University of Technology, he has presented a vast array of advanced technical topics such as large scale network installations, information systems integration, security administration and support and system resilience strategies to undergraduate and postgraduate students.

Antony also has experience in post-incident evaluation and response, data breach root cause analysis manner, Cyber threat modelling, and data backup/recovery.

“I am privileged to be working for Advantage, where each client relationship is a journey, a partnership where I will be able to use my knowledge base to assist in offering direction towards safe passage. Especially in these troubled times of escalating risk within the cyber security sphere,” says Antony when remarking about his recent appointment.

Advantage says that Antony will be crucial in providing them with enhanced capability when dealing with increasingly complex risks. This will help organisations to remain confident in the security of their digital future and act as an essential component to their growth.

The company has been at the front of the IT domain in NZ for 35 years, currently offering clients cloud-based security services and acting as NZ's premier Managed Security Service Provider (MSSP). Since its inception, Advantage has pivoted between hardware supplier, virtualisation specialist, private cloud provider and digital consultancy.

They have developed a leading managed security solution specifically targeted at New Zealand organisations. The S5 Data Center also allows customers access to expert disaster recovery services and the ability to exploit the scalability of cloud infrastructure.

Typically, the company provides helpdesk and project delivery/support services, but due to skills shortages, they are increasingly providing VCIO support. Their security operations centre operates 24/7, 365 days a year to maintain efficient and secure operations.