NCC Group

NCC Group (LSE: NCC) is an information assurance firm headquartered in Manchester, United Kingdom. Its service areas cover software escrow and verification, cyber security consulting and managed services. NCC Group claims over 15,000 clients worldwide.[3] The company is listed on the London Stock Exchange.

NCC Group PLC
TypePublic limited company
LSE: NCC
ISINGB00B01QGK86 
IndustryInformation assurance
Cyber security
Source code escrow
Founded1999
HeadquartersManchester, United Kingdom
Number of locations
Over 35 (2020)
Area served
Worldwide
Key people
Chris Stone (Chairman)
Adam Palser (CEO)
Revenue£263.7 million (2020)[1]
£31.1 million (2020)[1]
£19.1 million (2020)[1]
Number of employees
Over 2,000 (2020)[2]
Websitewww.nccgroup.com/

History

NCC Group was formed in June 1999, when the National Computing Centre sold its commercial divisions to its existing management team supported by private equity firm ECI Ventures.[4][5] This new company was named NCC Services Ltd and was renamed NCC Group Ltd in May 2000. In 2000, Rob Cotton was hired as finance director and subsequently took responsibility for the Group's escrow division. In 2003 he led a secondary management buyout and became chief executive of NCC Group Ltd.[6] This valued the Group at £30 million and was supported by Barclays Private Equity.[7]

On 12 July 2004 NCC Group was admitted to trading on AIM, with the flotation raising £38.1 million before expenses.[3] After rapid expansion, in July 2007 the Group made the move to the London Stock Exchange's main market.[8]

In August 2020 training materials, from NCC Group, a founding member of the cyber security certification body CREST, including practical examination “cheat sheets” for the CREST CCT INF and CCT APP examinations were leaked on to the GitHub and Dropbox platforms.[9][10] The leaked documents described internal training procedures involving “cloned examination rigs” and offered step by step walkthroughs of CREST examinations.[11] Due to the breach of exam integrity CREST suspended practical examinations and in a statement said it "will be appointing an independent investigative panel.”[11][12]

Acquisitions

NCC Group has expanded through a mixture of organic growth and acquisitions:

  • 2006 Recall Total Information Management's escrow division[13]
  • 2006 Source Harbor[14]
  • 2007 Secure Test[15]
  • 2007 Site Confidence[16]
  • 2008 Escrow Europe[17]
  • 2008 Next Generation Security Software (NGS)[18]
  • 2010 iSEC Partners Inc[19]
  • 2010 SDLC Solutions[20]
  • 2010 Meridian Services International[21]
  • 2011 Axzona Ltd[22]
  • 2011 Escrow Associates[23]
  • 2012 Matasano Security[24]
  • 2012 Intrepidus Group[25]
  • 2014 FortConsult A/S[26]
  • 2015 Open Registry Group[27]
  • 2015 Accumuli[28]
  • 2015 Fox-IT[29]
  • 2016 Payment Software Company, Inc.[30]
  • 2016 VSR, Inc.[31]

.secure

In 2012 NCC Group announced the investment of £6 million over 15 months in a wholly owned subsidiary, Artemis Internet. This was used to apply for a new .secure generic Top Level Domain (gTLD) and develop an associated security programme.[32] The application was subsequently abandoned and .secure was assigned to a different applicant.[33]

.trust

In 2014 NCC Group acquired the right to operate the generic Top Level Domain (gTLD) .trust from Deutsche Post.[34]

References
  1. "Results for year ended 31 May 2020" (PDF). NCC Group. Retrieved 2020-11-08.
  2. NCC Group Website. NCC Group. Retrieved 2020-11-08.
  3. "About NCC Group - IT Security Services and Escrow Services". nccgroup.trust. 2012-08-31. Retrieved 2013-11-11.
  4. "NCC Group | ECI Partners". www.ecipartners.com. Retrieved 2016-01-26.
  5. "NCC: 40 years on - towards a new age of innovation". Computerweekly.com. Retrieved 2013-11-11.
  6. "NCC managers buyout firm". Manchester Evening News. 10 August 2004. Retrieved 7 July 2020.
  7. "Equistone Partners Europe - NCC Group". Equistonepe.com. Retrieved 2013-11-11.
  8. "13/07/07 Exchange is delighted to welcome NCC Group plc to the Main Market". London Stock Exchange. Retrieved 2013-11-11.
  9. "NCC Group admits its training data was leaked online after folders full of CREST pentest certification exam notes posted to GitHub". www.theregister.com. Retrieved 2020-08-19.
  10. "Internal NCC training data and CREST exam questions leaked on Github". teiss. 2020-08-11. Retrieved 2020-08-19.
  11. "Examination Material – updated 17 August 2020". Retrieved 2020-08-19.
  12. "CREST: We are investigating NCC Group certification cheat sheet scandal – and not with NCC personnel". www.theregister.com. Retrieved 2020-08-19.
  13. "NCC Group Purchases Source Code Escrow Division of Recall". Prweb.com. Retrieved 2013-11-11.
  14. "NCC Group buys US-based Source Harbor for up to 1.5 mln usd - Finance News - London South East". Lse.co.uk. 2006-07-07. Retrieved 2013-11-11.
  15. "UPDATE 1-NCC year profit up 29 pct, sees more growth | Reuters". In.reuters.com. 2008-07-03. Retrieved 2013-11-11.
  16. "NCC Group says H1 pretax up 23 pct acquires Site Confidence for 91 mln stg". Lse.co.uk. Retrieved 2013-11-11.
  17. "NCC Group acquires Escrow Europe Holdings". Computerweekly.com. 2008-01-23. Retrieved 2013-11-11.
  18. "NCC acquires security testing rival NGSS for £10m". Computerweekly.com. 2008-11-28. Retrieved 2013-11-11.
  19. "NCC Group acquires iSEC Partners". Growthbusiness.co.uk. 2010-10-19. Retrieved 2013-11-11.
  20. "NCC Group Buys SDLC Solutions For Maximum Consideration Of £15 Mln In Cash - Quick Facts". Rttnews.com. 2010-04-23. Retrieved 2013-11-11.
  21. "NCC Group acquires credit card auditor Meridian for up to £3 mln - Proactiveinvestors (UK)". Proactiveinvestors. 2010-03-19. Retrieved 2013-11-11.
  22. "NCC Group acquires Axzona web performance". Compute Scotland. Retrieved 2013-11-11.
  23. Kevin Feddy (2011-03-29). "NCC Group buys Escrow Associates in £6m deal". Manchester Evening News. Retrieved 2013-11-11.
  24. "NCC Group will pay up to £8.4m to acquire Matasano Security | 2 August 2012". Stock Market Wire. 2012-08-02. Retrieved 2013-11-11.
  25. "NCC Group buys Intrepidus Group | ChannelBiz UK". Channelbiz.co.uk. Retrieved 2013-11-11.
  26. "NCC Group PLC Acquisition of FortConsult". wsj.com. Retrieved 2014-05-17.
  27. "NCC Group acquires Open Registry Group". NCC Group. 2015-01-20. Retrieved 2015-09-23.
  28. "IT security firm NCC buys UK rival Accumuli to boost capabilities". Reuters. 2015-03-24. Retrieved 2015-03-24.
  29. "NCC Group plc". Retrieved 27 December 2015.
  30. "NCC Group acquire Payment Software Company". Manchester Evening News. 2016-09-29. Retrieved 2016-10-04.
  31. "NCC Group buys Boston-based Virtual Security Research". LSE. 11 November 2016. Retrieved 23 July 2017.
  32. "NCC Group to invest £6m in web domain". Manchester Evening News. 2012-05-10. Retrieved 2013-11-11.
  33. ".secure Registry Agreement". ICANN. Retrieved 2020-04-02.
  34. "NCC Group PLC Acquisition of first gTLD .trust". Wall Street Journal. 2014-02-17. Retrieved 2014-05-17.
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