Sophos has confirmed that it is implementing some internal restructuring, but denied that it plans to close its Naked Security blog.
Following reports which emerged last night about Sophos’ plans to furlough staff and close the award-winning blog, a spokesperson for Sophos has confirmed plans to restructure in response to market conditions associated with COVID-19 and “to accelerate the evolution already underway to our next-gen product portfolio, which features our most advanced cloud-managed protection capabilities and is the fastest growing part of our business.”
The spokesperson added: “A restructuring is always a difficult decision, but we believe it is necessary to position Sophos for continued growth and success in the years to come, and to continue to provide advanced, world-class protection for our customers.
“Sophos is appreciative of the contributions made by all our team members in supporting the company’s mission to protect people from cybercrime by developing powerful and intuitive products and services that provide the world’s most effective cybersecurity for organizations of any size.”
In the first quarter of 2020, Sophos grew billings 14% overall, its next-gen products represented over 63% of its business and the company grew 37% year-on-year.
Answering a question with regard to the future of the 10-year-old Naked Security blog, which earlier this week collected two European Security Blogger Awards for Best Corporate Blog and Best Overall Blog, Sophos said: “We can assure you that Naked Security will continue to be a source of information moving forward. Sophos is increasing focus on threat research and security investigations. As a result, we’ll do more original reporting and deep analysis.”
Security blogger and speaker Graham Cluley said in his blog that he had heard that Naked Security would be “mothballed” and he sent his “best wishes to old friends at Sophos facing possible redundancy.
“So many vendors over the years were jealous of the power that Naked Security commanded, and how it helped Sophos punch far above its weight in terms of brand awareness and thought leadership,” he said.