NZ Company Awarded Place In International Cyber Security Accelerator

Led by founder and CEO Laura Bell, SafeStack Academy’s mission of improving the security of software has been supercharged by its selection for CyRise’s accelerator program.

This renowned program accepts only a handful of organisations, providing high growth companies with support to scale globally, and puts SafeStack Academy in a strong position to capitalise on its outstanding early success and traction. It is the first New Zealand company to join the program and the first with a solo female founder.

Offering flexible, high quality, and people-focused online secure development education for fast moving companies since its launch in September 2020, Safestack Academy helps build security skills and culture across the entire engineering team.

Bell explains, "With an estimated 27 million software development professionals worldwide, this space is growing at an astonishing rate. It’s more important than ever that we build in security from the start if we are to protect our data, systems, and people."

SafeStack Academy is already supporting 35 organisations in 4 countries after just 6 months of operations, and the company’s potential has been recognised through support from NZTE.

Trade Me Head of Security Kate Pearce says, "Cyber security is about growing people and supporting culture. Having SafeStack Academy's training in place leads to a safer company, stronger security of our products and customer data, and ultimately supports Trade Me's position as one of our country's most trusted brands."

SafeStack Academy creates a sustainable security culture based on empowerment, not fear, helping teams build the confidence and peace of mind to innovate, grow, and go faster, safe in the knowledge that they’re building security into their ways of working. This approach is resonating strongly with the software engineering community and directors worldwide.

Bell is committed to taking a more inclusive and diverse approach to the traditionally male-dominated cyber security sector, and this carries through into SafeStack Academy’s style of education.

Her team - largely made up of women and fully remote across New Zealand and Australia - focuses on creating supportive, blame-free learning environments that help everyone grow their cyber security superpowers, whatever their background or experience level.

This includes also offering security awareness training designed to help businesses upskill their teams on essentials like password management, device security, and phishing.

About SafeStack Academy:

SafeStack Academy is an online education platform that provides flexible secure development training for teams and individuals, as well as security and privacy awareness training.

Its unique approach brings together world class training, hands-on labs, and a dedicated community, making it easy and safe to bring security into development processes early, ask for help, and find alternative approaches to common problems.

Founded and operated from New Zealand, SafeStack Academy is fast growing and now employs 9 people across NZ/AU, serving 35 organisations and over 4,500 learners.

Founder and CEO Laura Bell is an established expert in the security industry, a veteran conference speaker, a published author on security topics, and a finalist in the Inspiring Individual category of the 2021 Hi-Tech Awards.

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