Amber Group acquires cybersecurity firm NightVizion
Published:Friday | October 8, 2021 | 12:09 AM
Technology company Amber Group has acquired a 75 per cent stake in an American cybersecurity firm, NightVizion, a subsidiary of the Vizius Group, a purchase that seems designed to plug some of the gap in security expertise at the Jamaican firm, which initially launched into business as a supplier of fleet- and vehicle-tracking products.
Under the new acquisition, which is being renamed AmberEye, NightVizion CEO Glenn Johnson will join Amber Group as chief information and security officer, and David Hyde-Volpe as its new chief cybersecurity architect.
Amber Group CEO Dushyant Savadia declined to comment on the value of the transaction, but noted that no share-swap was involved, despite the two new NightVizion hires.
“Having bought 75 per cent of NightVizion, it was only prudent to have them in these posts to steer and assist the growth of the group,” Savadia told the Financial Gleaner. “The Vizius Group now owns 25 per cent” of the acquired entity, he said.
Questions about Amber Group’s cybersecurity capabilities arose in February when cyber outfit Tech Crunch discovered a security vulnerability associated with the file storage service on the JAMCOVID platform, an online pandemic tool that Amber designed for the Jamaican Government.
The vulnerability was reportedly fixed, but two others were subsequently discovered and later rectified.
Vizius Group describes itself as a think tank of cybersecurity consultants who understand the mechanics and business value of risk reduction. The group is headed by Johnson, principal engineer and CEO, whose track record in cybersecurity dates back to 1986. He has been working with principal engineer and CTO Hyde-Volpe and Operations Manager Laura Grindley since 2017 as part of Stalwart Global Security, a division of NorthState Communications.
The trio decided to stay together when NorthState was acquired in 2020 to form the Vizius Group. The consultants allied to NightVizion have backgrounds in cybersecurity, incident response and IT infrastructure.
“The Caribbean and Latin America is a hotspot for cybercrime, and there are increasing cyberattacks across private- and public-sector companies daily,” said Glenn Johnson in a release announcing the acquisition deal. “NightVizion’s inclusion in the Amber Group’s portfolio will give us an opportunity to bring our unique skill sets to help businesses grow and innovate,” he said.
Savadia, too, referenced the increase in cybercrime across the globe with all major technology companies coming under attack, saying it was costing the Caribbean region about US$90 billion annually.
“Amber has used artificial intelligence-enabled techniques in its own cyberthreat-mitigation efforts. With Amber CyberEye, our company is now facilitating the access of this risk-mitigation capability to our clients, irrespective of size,” said the Amber Group CEO. “Small, medium and large companies will be able to monitor and counter disruptive and expensive cyberthreats in real time through Amber CyberEye,” he said.