Telefónica’s cybersecurity company ElevenPaths has acquired specialist training company iHackLabs.
The acquisition aims to help address the growing cybersecurity skills challenge which is matched by increasingly sophisticated threats. In the European Union alone there will be over 300,000 vacancies for cybersecurity experts unfilled by the end of 2022, according to Telefónica.
iHackLabs offers cloud-based training platforms and labs under a software-as-a-service (SaaS) model. These platforms simulate real cyber threat situations adapted to the specific needs of companies and organisations of all kinds in multiple sectors.
Bolstering cybersecurity
The training focuses on the offensive, defensive and forensic areas of cybersecurity and provides platforms for training response teams to tackle incidents. iHackLabs also has platforms that replicate the full cycle of ransomware and denial-of-service attacks (DoS and DDoS) as well as a penetration testing services unit.
iHackLabs has a presence in London and Madrid, and has been collaborating with ElevenPaths since 2018.
Pedro Pablo Pérez, CEO of ElevenPaths, said: “We are always scouting for collaboration and investment opportunities and the capabilities of the platforms and solutions developed by their team are at the cutting edge of cybersecurity training. It was only a matter of time before we would team up to train our professionals and those of our customers, offering them solutions specifically designed to meet their needs.”
The integration of iHackLabs into ElevenPaths follows the recent purchase of Govertis, a cybersecurity consulting company. The acquisitions are part of Telefónica Tech’s growth strategy which is focused on cybersecurity, IoT and big data, and cloud.