F-Secure strategically positions itself for sustainable growth ahead

KUALA LUMPUR: Cybersecurity specialist F-Secure is evaluating its strategic options to enable the company to capture the growth opportunities across its lines of business, according to President and CEO Juhani Hintikka (left in pic above).

F-Secure’s two main divisions – corporate and consumer – serves three growing markets; namely, consumer cybersecurity, corporate cybersecurity, and cybersecurity consulting, which the company forecasts to grow by 4%, 15%, and 10% CAGR respectively to 2025. “We have good growth opportunities in all three businesses and we are considering options to ensure adequate resources to develop them all,” says Hintikka.

The 33-year-old Finnish-based firm prides itself on having driven innovations in cybersecurity, using sophisticated technology that combines machine learning with the human expertise of its internationally-acclaimed security labs, one of which is situated in Malaysia and called the ‘Tactical Defence Unit’.

Its security experts have participated in more European cybercrime scene investigations than any other company in the market, with its products being sold worldwide by over 200 broadband and mobile operators, and thousands of IT resellers.

Amongst the different strategic options that the company is reviewing and evaluating is the possible listing of its consumer security business. The review and evaluation process will be carried out by the end of H1/2022.

“We operate in three growing markets where the fast-changing digitalised world creates new opportunities. Our business security software focuses on the mid-market segment through an extensive partner network, whereas the enterprise customers are served directly by our outcome-based solution portfolio, which includes Managed Detection and Response (MDR) and consulting.

“In consumer security, F-Secure is now aiming for growth while partnering with service providers which represent the primary go-to-market model,” says Hintikka during the company’s recent Capital Markets Day themed ‘Outcome-based security through the fusion of technology, human expertise and partnership’.

‘Outcome-based security’ for value, constantly protecting algorithms and data

According to Hintikka, F-Secure’s definition of ‘outcome-based security’ is to demonstrate the value that comes from its solutions and expertise for its customers, and to establish that, both great technology and deep human expertise is needed, alongside the deep partnership between the company and its stakeholders.

He notes that both sides of the business have been growing over the past 5 years, with corporate security experiencing rapid growth, while consumer security broke $100 million for the first time in the past fiscal year.

Hintikka also points out that several digitisation trends in recent times have led to a greater need for cybersecurity.

“It is clear that the world is now is one that is data-driven and algorithmic, which means that these algorithms and data need to be protected; from a business processes perspective, and also from an individual perspective.

“The cloud computing model is becoming mainstream; our products are also becoming cloud-native, and we see the strongest growth coming from that. Remote work is here to stay, and the enabling infrastructure needs to be protected. Finally, if we look at the overall cybersecurity market, it is increasingly complex. Many of our corporate customers have elected to purchase security as a service.”

Combining technology and real-world expertise

Sharing some of F-Secure’s plans for the future, including the setting up of separate brands for its B2B and B2C businesses, Hintikka states that one of the company’s strengths was in the way it combined technology and real-world expertise.

“It’s hard to solve cybersecurity problems with products alone, but if you combined them with the expertise our people bring to the table, you can have a real win-win situation.”

He further adds that a challenge many customers face is the difficulty in evaluating which products work well and which don’t.

“For that reason, there are external certification bodies that routinely test products and issue findings and ratings. F-Secure has done excellently in this area; for example, we have obtained the most Best Protection AV-TEST awards since inception, the best-in-class results in an independent evaluation by MITRE has confirmed F-Secure’s industry-leading capabilities, and we have been recognised by Gartner Peer Insights Customers’ Choice for Vulnerability Assessment, amongst many other acknowledgements.

“In terms of our expertise, we have partners who use F-Secure products, and we offer them the ability to escalate major issues to F-Secure directly. Customers who don’t necessarily have the capability in their own team to manage our platform can have us come in to do it for them via our MDR services, and cybersecurity consultancy is also part of our product offering.”

In the arena of corporate cybersecurity, F-Secure’s motto is to ‘follow the customer and sell according to the need’, Hintikka states, with business security products (under the Elements platform, encompassing endpoint protection, endpoint detection and response, collaboration protection, and vulnerability management) aimed at the mid-market via channel sales, while F-Secure directly handles sales of its MDR and consulting solutions to enterprise customers.

F-Secure also prides itself on being able to offer a range of commercial models, including the standard licensing model, subscriptions, usage-based pricing, and outcome-based models. Further, the company attributes its success to the success of its partners as well, which it supports via partner programmes and competence development, amongst other initiatives.

F-Secure has also been expanding into selected verticals and ecosystems. Hintikka notes that in the financial services sector, the majority of the top banks (all 5 major banks in the Nordic region) in the UK, North America, and Singapore are F-Secure customers. The company also serves the technology sector, the communications industry, and the manufacturing sector.

“We see really promising development for Cloud Protection for Salesforce and Collaboration Protection for Microsoft 365,” he adds.

All of F-Secure’s software and service offerings are supported by shared technologies, which are the key to improved profitability, according to Hintikka. These include artificial intelligence and machine learning, Blackfin, research and threat intelligence, as well as data.

“After our successful transformation, F-Secure is growing across all businesses, with our profitability on the rise, and our scalable businesses enable us to improve our profitability,” he explains.

Meanwhile, F-Secure Regional Director Yong Meng Hong, who is based in Malaysia, said that F-Secure continues to believe in Malaysia. As mentioned earlier, outside of Helsinki, the company’s other Tactical Defence Unit is based in Kuala Lumpur.

“Over the years, we have been recruiting quite a few lab engineers and support staff to service the various markets across the Asia-Pacific region,” he explains. “The abundance of good local talent and an investment-friendly government were the main reasons for F-Secure making Kuala Lumpur our hub for the Asia-Pacific region.”

With F-Secure receiving awards in independent tests multiple years, its technology’s effectiveness at stopping cyberthreats in its tracks has been proven time and time again. Along its way, Malaysia has played its part in making F-Secure ‘visionary and proactive’ in this critical field.

The above article was contributed by SGM Consulting for Malaysiakini.

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