PwC Hong Kong and watchTowr forge strategic cybersecurity partnership
Hong Kong, 1 March 2024 – PwC Hong Kong (“PwC”) is excited to announce a strategic partnership with global cybersecurity technology start-up watchTowr. Headquartered in Singapore and with a presence in Europe and Asia Pacific, watchTowr has built on years of experience supporting some of the world’s largest enterprises.
According to the MITRE’s CVE Programme, more than 26,000 vulnerabilities, including over 5,000 critical ones, were published in 2023. Statistics by PwC’s Dark Lab show that in 2023, there is a more than ten-fold increase in exploitation speed by threat actors since 2021 – threat actors now take advantage of published vulnerabilities in a matter of days.
This requires prompt identification of the attack surface to these vulnerabilities and swift assessment of their impact on the system. Hence, organisations can allocate their resources efficiently and fix the most urgent issues. However, in today’s diverse networks and systems operated by different organisations, it is not a straightforward task to maintain a comprehensive visibility of the attack surface.
As cybersecurity threats evolve and multiply, it is essential to stay one step ahead of adversaries. To do so, one must think like a hacker and anticipate their moves. This is the philosophy that drives the strategic partnership between PwC Hong Kong and watchTowr, in which the two leading cybersecurity firms share a common vision.
Benjamin Harris, CEO, watchTowr, said: “2024 is only just beginning, and yet organisations have already faced a barrage of critical, exploitable vulnerabilities in mission-critical appliances and software. We’re extremely proud to collaborate with PwC Hong Kong, delivering an incredibly powerful outcome to organisations – to prevent breaches.”
The watchTowr Platform - Attack Surface Management and Continuous Automated Red Teaming technology - utilises cutting-edge technology and offensive security expertise to give organisations a real time understanding of how an attacker could compromise them. At scale and autonomously, the watchTowr Platform maps an organisation’s attack surface and uncovers exploitable vulnerabilities rapidly, while simulating the ingenuity and persistence of a real attacker.
“Through this partnership, we aim to combine our strengths to deliver a holistic and innovative approach to cybersecurity, ensuring that our clients stay safe and secure in this ever-evolving threat landscape,” emphasised PwC Hong Kong Cybersecurity and Privacy Partner, Kok Tin Gan. “We integrate watchTowr’s advanced ASM technology with PwC’s Dark Lab’s real-life incident response experience to provide continuous testing and assurance that reflects the reality of today’s cyber threats.”
The partnership empowers CISOs with real-time visibility and actionable intelligence across their organisation’s attack surface, enabling rapid reaction to emerging threats. Its speed and efficiency allow significant reduction in time needed to detect and remediate vulnerabilities - from weeks or months, to just hours. It also fosters a community of cybersecurity professionals who adopt an offensive mindset as a form of defence. By thinking like hackers, they can understand and counter their adversaries’ motives and methods, and protect their organisations and the wider cyber ecosystem.
PwC Hong Kong’s Dark Lab is a state-of-the-art technical space that simulates real-life hacking scenarios and helps clients mitigate the most sophisticated cyberattacks. The Dark Lab team consists of over 250 cybersecurity professionals, many of whom have deep insights into the mindset and tactics of cybercriminals.
About watchTowr
watchTowr is a global cyber security technology company, backed by VC and headquartered in Singapore, built by red teamers.
The watchTowr Platform unifies Continuous Automated Red Teaming (CART) and Attack Surface Management (ASM) to discover exploitable vulnerabilities across large attack surfaces, continuously.
Combining world-class technology with decades of offensive security and red teaming experience, the watchTowr Platform is your persistent adversary: https://www.watchtowr.com
