Safe-T secures its future as coronavirus drives risk strategies 

Online security and privacy have never been more important as companies start adjusting their operations for a future that will be shaped by the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic and changes to workplaces and workspaces. Many employees will continue to work remotely, opening organizations up to risk and highlighting the importance of secure remote access. Consumers are also recognizing the importance of securing their digital presence. Safe-T Group (NASDAQ:SFET) Ltd., the Nasdaq-listed company that offers security applications for data-related threats, entered the pandemic on the front foot. While many companies and consumers were caught off-guard, it was already well-positioned. And it took the advantage of the situation.  In the early days of the pandemic in 2020, Safe-T CEO Shachar Daniel said it was unclear how it would play out. “Companies were cautious, and budgets were closed due to the unknown future. From that perspective, it was bad for everybody, especially at the beginning,” Daniels explained in an interview with Proactive.  Distributors and resellers that hadn’t paid attention to innovation before the global COVID-19 lockdowns suddenly had much more time to investigate and adopt the innovative and disruptive technologies on offer.  “In our specific space, secure remote access, we used the opportunity to engage with dozens of new partners all over the world and it looks like we can, and we will bear fruit in the future," Shachar added. "The ROI (return on investment) is not immediate. The ROI from partners helps us to build a big company, to scale up, and that’s the strategy we started pre-COVID and have continued to push very strong during COVID. It looks like the time and engagement we made over the COVID will take us further.” Consumer awareness grows due to cyber hacking  While companies acted quickly to secure remote access for employees, Daniel said consumers also sat up and took notice. With an estimated 60% of all Americans believed to have been subjected to a cyber hacking event over the past two years, outside of their work domain, he noted, the awareness of ordinary people consuming internet and services 24/7 soared. “Hackers can get into your cameras, can get in your microphone, your smart TV, laptop, mobile phone, everything. The awareness also increased dramatically for privacy and security,” Daniel said. “We can see that dramatically in our new business, which is the consumer business.” While cyberattacks are nothing new, more consumers working from home and using their own devices to access potentially sensitive data in their workplace have created more opportunities for hackers. If 80% of employees worked from their office before COVID-19, it swung entirely in the other direction as a result of the pandemic. This led Safe-T to create a new vertical in its business, aimed specifically at the consumer market. It has augmented its business organically and through acquisitions, such as the recent purchase of CyberKick Limited, a business built to make the Internet a safer place. CyberKick provides Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) security and privacy tools to counter threats while keeping users safer when they are online. It defends against a spectrum of cyber threats and provides users with control over their accounts and sensitive data.                                                                                           “We took the decision two years ago to build one company that is protecting enterprises and consumers from a privacy and security perspective,” Daniel said. “With the acquisition of CyberKick, we finished the first layer of this company. Now, we have four product lines. Two of them are for enterprise: privacy for the enterprise, and security for the enterprise. "And there is cybersecurity for the consumer and privacy for the consumer. Now that we have these four product lines, we are working on a lot of synergies between both sides of the business, taking some enterprise technology to consumers and some technology from the consumer side to our enterprise vertical.” Safe-T adds to talent pool through acquisitions The CyberKick deal followed the acquisitions of NetNut Ltd and Chi Cooked LLC. While Safe-T is focused on integrating the new businesses to maximise their potential, further acquisitions are also possible.  “We don’t have something very soon, but as part of our strategy M&A is one of the ways to show exponential growth, not only from revenues; when I’m talking about growth it’s also from technology,” Daniel said. “Instead of taking a year to internally develop a product or feature, if we can shorten this duration by acquisitions, it’s a good decision. "Of course, it depends on the price and the timing and many other aspects. But, yes, M&A is on the table all the time, we're investigating, and I think that know how to do it.” Apart from boosting revenue and expediting the introduction of new technology, Daniel said acquiring businesses also introduces new, scarce talent to the company. Globally, Daniel said there is a shortage of experts to maintain much-needed technology.  “Through these acquisitions, we add new entrepreneurs who will stay with us on your journey for years and bring us a lot of added value apart from the direct added value such as more customers and additional revenue.”  As well as supporting Safe-T’s strategy to grow revenue exponentially, expansion into new verticals through acquisition will hedge against risk, Daniel said. So, when the enterprise side of the business is growing slower, the consumer operations support the business. The diversity means it can also focus on research and development (R&D) in a particular segment, like its cybersecurity arm, while pushing its privacy business to boost revenue.  “Now we have a variety of options in order to show growth and increase our holding in the market while maintaining R&D and innovation, and still release disruptive products. This is the only way to be successful because the market is very competitive and you need to manage your risks.” Space to grow in consumer market  While the CyberKick acquisition is a big milestone for Safe-T, Daniel said the company aimed to build a well-known and significant player in cybersecurity and private for consumers and enterprises.  “We don’t think the consumer market is crowded at this stage,” he said. “I think we can boost growth, develop innovative products and become a significant player in this space.”  On the enterprise side, Daniel said the company’s Zero Trust network security solution, is already gaining recognition in the market. Over the past couple of years, it has been mentioned in most analyst reports dealing with cybersecurity, including those from research and advisory firms Gartner and Frost & Sullivan, and market intelligence company International Data Corporation (IDC). In July 2021, Quadrant Knowledge Solutions named Safe-T as a 2021 emerging leader in the SPARK Matrix analysis of the global Zero Trust Network Security (ZTNS) market. “From a technology perspective, we are in the front line, there is no doubt about it, you can find us anywhere. We are in at least seven or eight analyst reports every quarter,” Daniel concluded. “It takes time, but I think that when the world starts to shift dramatically, or at least significantly, from legacy VPNs (virtual private networks) to zero trust technologies, Safe-T is totally ready to take a nice piece of this unbelievable huge market. Imagine how many companies in the world are connecting remotely to their offices. It’s an endless number.”  Contact the author at stephen.gunnion@proactiveinvestors.com