Integrity360 starts the year with an acquisition

There is something about January and making global acquisitions for Integrity360, with the firm sealing its first deal of 2026 almost a year to the day since it made a similar move in 2025.

Last January, the focus was on South Africa, with Integrity360 picking up Nclose as part of its global expansion to strengthen its position in the cyber security services sector.

A year on, and the target this time is Canadian, allowing Integrity360 to enter the North American market and continue with its strategy of expanding globally and bolstering its security capabilities.

“The acquisition marks a significant milestone for the group as it represents our first presence in the strategically important North American market. Advantus360 has, for more than a decade, established and developed an enviable reputation for excellence in cyber security consulting and solutions,” said Ian Brown, executive chairman at Integrity360.

“Its achievements in designing, deploying and supporting Palo Alto Networks solutions are particularly impressive and will be built upon by the whole Integrity360 group. We are looking forward to working closely with the team to rapidly expand their operations and capability over the coming years,” he added.

Advantus360 is based in Canada, but supports customers in both its home market and the US, having established a strong reputation in security consulting, with expertise not just around Palo Alto, but also relationships with Cisco, HPE, Algosec, KnowB4 and Mimecast.

The firm has also been developing its managed services proposition, providing managed detection and response (MDR) options to customers.

Advantus360 directors Regan and Stefan Herbst put out a joint statement to provide their response to the deal, describing it as a positive for customers and staff alike.

“Advantus360 has flourished during [the past decade] thanks to the support of our customers and employees. With the backing of Ian and the considerable resources, capability and track record of the entire Integrity360 team, we are thrilled about what we can achieve for our customers, and our employees, as we look to expand across both Canada and the United States over the coming years,” they stated.

Integrity360 is also expanding its footprint in Europe, opening fresh locations this year in Brussels and Paris to add to existing bases in Dublin, Stockholm, Rome, Sofia, Madrid and South Africa.

The security industry is braced for a busy 2026, with the emphasis on managed service providers (MSPs) and managed security service providers (MSSPs) evolving their proposition to provide greater protection for customers.

Denis Ferrand-Ajchenbaum, chief growth officer at Infinigate Group, shared some thoughts on what the rest of the year could hold for managed service players.

“MSPs and MSSPs will need to differentiate themselves to stand out in an increasingly crowded market. To achieve this, MSPs and MSSPs should offer proactive, strategic services that deliver measurable security outcomes and create real business value. A good example is attack-prevention services based on AI [artificial intelligence]-driven analysis, deep dark web research, and HUMINT [human intelligence] and OSINT [open source intelligence] to support MDR and SOC [security operations centre] services,” he said.

“The managed services market is expected to see double-digit growth over the next five years, with MSPs increasingly specialising to become MSSPs. Regulatory pressures, persistent skills shortages and expanding cloud environments are driving organisations to seek providers capable of delivering comprehensive, predictive security rather than reactive solutions,” added Ferrand-Ajchenbaum.