Fox-IT: The Rise and Fall of a Cyber Security Giant

Fox-IT has been a prominent global player in the field of cyber security since 1999. As the ‘first digital forensic agency’, it has played a leading role as an auditor of government and corporate IT security. However, it looks like Fox-IT will be split up by parent company NCC Group, which bought the company in 2015. It seems that the most imposing Dutch security company is about to disappear.

The End of an Era

De Volkskrant brought the ominous news on 1 June that the employees are putting Fox-IT on edge. Inge Bryan is leaving as CEO and will continue to sell Fox Crypto. In addition, NCC Group announced a reorganization. The message was not entirely surprising: owner NCC recently lost half of its own value after it issued a warning about its own profit figures. This while Fox-IT has mainly operated as an autonomous part of NCC, with much better financial performance in the past year than the British owner. It will most likely cease to exist under its own name, with part of it being swallowed up within NCC’s range of services. The parts that do not align with that company are resold.
Fox-IT saw the light of day in 1999 as the ‘first digital investigation agency in Western Europe’. Founders Ronald Prins and Menno van de Marel saw an opportunity to test the security level of government agencies and financial institutions. Around the turn of the century, digitization was gaining momentum, with the security of digital systems not always appearing to be in order. However, the past two decades have shown that this remains a persistent problem. Ronald Prince has therefore been active in the media as a representative of his company. In 2017, for example, he made the winged statement: “I actually hope for a major cyber disaster. Then I am sure that the eyes of the government will be opened.”

A Key Player for the Welfare of the Dutch Government

An important development took place for Fox-IT in 2003, when it took over the technology from Philips Crypto. This cryptographic code protected the storage and communication of state secrets. This is how the company, based in Rijswijk at the time, became a key player for the welfare of the Dutch government. It had twenty employees in 2003.
Fox-IT’s vigor seemed unstoppable in the following years. In two years, the number of employees doubled to forty. It had already split itself into five cooperating business units around 2005 for various purposes, such as monitoring client networks or conducting criminal investigations. In addition, it already had a “practice-oriented training unit” that transferred the collected expertise to clients. The growth also meant internationalization: the activities were expanded to the Antilles and the United Kingdom and, through partners, it also reached the US and the Middle East.
At the time, it was known to the general public as a reliable partner in the field of cyber security. The company has been a leader in the field for many years, and its disappearance is a major blow to the security industry. The future of Fox-IT is uncertain, but its legacy will remain.