Grove Group - Experts & Thought Leaders

As part of its global expansion plan, Integrity360 has acquired Grove Group, a long-standing cybersecurity and cloud services company headquartered in Cape Town, South Africa. The terms of the transaction were not disclosed.  The acquisition provides Integrity360 with approx. 600 additional customers across 51 countries, a deep partnership with pioneering NDR (Network Detection and Response) vendor Darktrace, and another global SOC (Security Operations Centre) location bringing the group's SOC locations to 5. Innovative XDR/MDR solutions Integrity360’s range of services have been recognised 4 times in a Gartner market guide Grove customers will benefit from access to Integirty360’s extensive cyber services portfolio encapsulating cyber risk and assurance, cyber security testing, incident response, infrastructure, end-point, PCI compliance, and a highly comprehensive range of cyber security managed services including innovative XDR/MDR solutions.  Integrity360’s innovative range of services have been recognised four times in a Gartner market guide most recently as a Representative Vendor for the second year running in the Gartner guide for Managed Detection and Response services. Grove with Integrity360 Grove, like Integrity360 has a long and deep history in cyber security and was founded in 2005, employs approx. 50 employees and is headquartered in Cape Town, South Africa with a regional office in London, UK. Grove has grown strongly over the last five years with a CAGR of over 22%, and during 2023 achieved sales of approx. €17m. Grove serves over 600 customers, across multiple countries and regions including the UK, Europe, Africa, the Caribbean, and Mauritius.  Grove has developed deep and long-standing relationships with several of the world’s pioneering cybersecurity vendors including Darktrace, Proofpoint, ESET, and Mimecast. The combination of Grove with Integrity360 brings group annual revenues to approx. €130m (up from approx. €85m in 2022) and expands group resources to over 500 employees.   Grove’s technical support operations  Grove’s technical support operations will serve as another SOC operation based out of Cape Town Grove’s technical support operations will serve as another SOC (Security Operations Centre) operation based out of Cape Town and will be combined with Integrity360’s other four SOC’s in Dublin, Sofia, Stockholm, and Naples – together operating with over 140 dedicated engineers, consultants and cyber experts in delivering a wide-ranging set of managed services for customers including EDR, XDR and MDR (Endpoint Detection and Response, Extended Detection and Response, and Managed Detection and Response).  Grove’s relationship and deep technical skills in Darktrace have led to the company winning the Darktrace partner of the year award for three consecutive years, and its innovative “dSOC” managed service for Darktrace technology is enabling a growing number of customers to optimise their investment in Darktrace AI-driven threat detection and response technology. Grove’s expertise in Darktrace solutions will add to that developed by Integrity360 following the partnership that it formed with Darktrace in early 2024. Enhanced range of services  Ian Brown, Executive Chairman at Integrity360 commented: “We are delighted to be welcoming Grove to Integrity360. The enhanced group significantly expands our existing activities and cyber services across other continents including Africa and the Caribbean in addition to bolstering our existing markets throughout the UK and continental Europe." "The addition of another Integrity360 regional hub in Cape Town will further enable us to serve the local needs of customers, and the SOC will add to and expand our already considerable 24/7 SOC operations. Both companies share a passion for customer service and innovation and we look forward to offering the group’s enhanced range of services to our collective customers and partners over the coming weeks and months”. Integrity360 group  Pip Witheridge, Founder and Chairman of Grove commented: “I am delighted that Grove is joining Integrity360 and continuing the growth journey that we started some 19 years ago. Thanks to the support of our customers, partners and employees Grove has grown and flourished during that time and I am confident will continue to do so being part of the Integrity360 group”. James Vintin, CEO of Grove commented: “The connection between Grove and Integrity360 has developed over an extended period of time, and we could not be more delighted to be joining the group and working closely with Ian and the Integrity360 team over the coming years. I am excited about the future for us as an organisation, for our people and in particular for what the enhanced group can provide our customers and partners moving forward”.

Darktrace, a global pioneer in cybersecurity AI, announces the launch of its new service offering, Darktrace Managed Detection & Response (MDR). The service combines its best-in-class detection and response capabilities spanning across the enterprise, with the expertise of its global analyst team. This powerful combination augments internal security teams with AI-powered threat containment and expert alert management across Darktrace environments, allowing them to focus resources on more strategic security efforts, like improving cyber resilience. Effective human-AI collaboration The service offers customers expanded hands-on analyst support with 24/7 managed detection Over 40% of security pioneers cite enhancing and optimising technology and processes in the security operations centre (SOC) as a top priority for improving defences against the rise of AI-powered threats according to the Darktrace State of AI Cybersecurity 2024 report. As a pioneer in applying AI to the challenge of cybersecurity, Darktrace has transformed security operations for thousands of customers for more than a decade.  Building upon this expertise Darktrace introduced its MDR service in March 2024, empowering customers to maximise the benefits of effective human-AI collaboration. The service offers customers expanded hands-on analyst support with 24/7 managed detection and response, featuring SOC investigation and action on Darktrace alerts, across network, cloud, operational technology (OT), endpoints and software-as-a-service (SaaS) applications. Human engagement on the AI’s actions With MDR, Darktrace’s SOC team will monitor customer environments for high-priority alerts indicative of an attack, conduct investigations to alert customers of potentially severe incidents and begin initial triage with human engagement on the AI’s actions. The SOC will carefully review the response measures the autonomous AI has taken and subsequently take proactive steps on behalf of the customer to contain threats, which may include extending or escalating response actions. By doing so, the SOC buys valuable time for internal teams to prepare for engagement while also gathering essential context for effective remediation efforts. Darktrace’s leadership and expertise Service builds upon Darktrace’s slip and expertise with best-in-class detection and response Darktrace’s existing global SOC team comprised of 100+ world-class cybersecurity analysts supports the service, offering a breadth of real-time knowledge, threat analysis and containment expertise, and extensive field experience. Darktrace’s SOC offers 24/7 support, utilising a follow-the-sun model with operations headquartered in the United Kingdom, United States and Singapore, to ensure analysts are available and ready to support around the clock. The service builds upon Darktrace’s leadership and expertise with best-in-class detection and response capabilities. The Darktrace ActiveAI Security Platform utilises its unique self-learning AI engine to detect known, unknown, and novel threats in real-time and provide an autonomous response to contain active threats without disrupting business operations. However, high-priority threats often require humans to engage and make decisions following the initial containment. Benefits of Darktrace Managed Detection & Response Darktrace Managed Detection & Response now enables the Darktrace SOC to immediately step in, conduct the initial triage, and gather context for internal teams, buying them added time to coordinate an effective response to remove the threat. Additional features and benefits of Darktrace Managed Detection & Response include: Expansive coverage across network, cloud, OT, endpoints, or SaaS applications offering one of the broadest vendor MDR services available today. Unlimited access to Darktrace’s analyst team providing 24/7 support for expert assistance during live threat investigations or even day-to-day operations. Semi-annual operational efficiency reports featuring consultancy insight with objectives and recommendations for optimising and tuning deployments for maximum operational efficiency, and suggestions on improving overall cybersecurity hygiene. Quarterly analyst MDR reviews ensuring deployments are reaching their full potential, with tailored advice on streamlining workflows, model optimisation and custom use cases. Regular MDR service reports summarizing all alerts raised as well as those resolved by Darktrace’s SOC for full transparency of service. AI-powered MDR service “As cyber threats become more sophisticated and frequent, organisations are looking for ways to help improve their security outcomes without adding to their team’s existing workloads,” said Denise Walter, Chief Revenue Officer, Darktrace. “Our AI-powered MDR service gives our customers added peace of mind that a Darktrace human expert is monitoring their environment 24/7 to keep them protected. Darktrace Managed Detection & Response brings not only the power of our technology, but the power of our people directly into our customers’ environments.” Darktrace's MDR service Darktrace partners can re-sell the service, helping to deliver added value for customers Darktrace Managed Detection & Response is available now to customers using Darktrace DETECT™ and RESPOND™, across Networks, Cloud, OT, Endpoints, or SaaS applications. Darktrace partners can re-sell the service, helping to deliver added value for customers with a complementary offering for their existing portfolio. “At Grove, we are excited to partner with Darktrace to offer their Managed Detection & Response (MDR) service to our clients. This collaboration seamlessly integrates our services and together, Darktrace's MDR service and our dSOC service, offer unparalleled security through skilled analysis and consistent oversight," said James Vintin, CEO at Grove Group, a global partner, reseller and distributor focused on defending customers with advanced cybersecurity solutions. Darktrace's 24/7 AI-driven threat Vintin added: “Combining Darktrace's 24/7 AI-driven threat containment and immediate intervention with Grove's proactive daily analysis, Indicator of Compromise reports, and continuous customer interaction ensures that potential threats are promptly identified and addressed." "Our partnership enhances our clients' overall security posture and delivers the best of both worlds: immediate and long-term protection against evolving cyber threats.”