Nearshore Americas
IBM

IBM to Expand IT Security Services in LatAm With Costa Rican Center

US technology giant IBM has unveiled plans to modernize and expand its IT security services center in Costa Rica with an investment of US$21 million.

The facility will train local people in cybersecurity while monitoring and protecting the data of hundreds of its clients around the world.

The American firm has not disclosed how many new employees it will recruit as part of the expansion, but some reports suggest that it would focus on reskilling existing employees in IT security.

In 2014, IBM set up a small IT security unit within its customer services center in Heredia. It apparently chose to expand the operations as the demand for cybersecurity services rose on the back of an increase in cyber attacks.

Thousands of businesses around the world are struggling to protect their data and platforms from cyber thieves, the company stated in a press release. There are more than 2.93 million vacant positions in the IT security services industry, IBM added citing a report from professional association ISC.

“The growth of cybersecurity technology and data combined with a growing skills shortage is creating an unexpected level of complexity for public and private organizations,” says Ana Paula Assis, General Manager, IBM Latin America. “With this investment, IBM reinforces its 15-year commitment to the country by expanding the outreach of our global cybersecurity capabilities driven by local, skilled talents, while providing world-class services to our clients.”

Sign up for our Nearshore Americas newsletter:

IBM, which also runs a security learning academy, says it is monitoring 16 billion security events per day in more than 130 countries. The Costa Rican center will be the company’s largest cybersecurity service center in all of Latin America.

Narayan Ammachchi

News Editor for Nearshore Americas, Narayan Ammachchi is a career journalist with a decade of experience in politics and international business. He works out of his base in the Indian Silicon City of Bangalore.

Add comment