Black Duck Forms Open Source Security Research Group in Northern Ireland

Part of Center for Open Source Research & Innovation, Belfast-based group will analyze open source security issues and attack patterns

BURLINGTON, Mass. & BELFAST, Northern Ireland--()--Black Duck, a global leader in automated solutions for securing and managing open source software, today announced the formation of its Belfast-based Open Source Security Research Group during an event at Invest Northern Ireland’s headquarters in Belfast.

Black Duck worked closely with Invest NI on the initiative, and Black Duck said it expects to add almost 60 jobs in Northern Ireland over the next four years.

The Northern Ireland group is a component of Black Duck’s global Center for Open Source Research and Innovation (COSRI).

COSRI is based at Black Duck’s Massachusetts headquarters. The Northern Ireland group will play a major role in COSRI’s research work by analyzing open source security issues and attack patterns, and by providing customers with actionable information on vulnerabilities, corrective actions to reduce risk and strategies for effective, secure use of open source.

Black Duck CEO Lou Shipley attended the event and said “Since creating COSRI earlier this year, we have been increasing our strategic investments in open source security research and innovation worldwide. Northern Ireland has the depth of security research talent to meet many of our needs in the near term and in the future.

“Invest NI very quickly proved to us that Northern Ireland had both the high-quality tech professionals to meet our open source security research needs and an impressive array of cybersecurity-focused businesses that will continue to attract more attractive candidates to the region. Invest NI’s guidance and support played a vital role in making this engagement happen. They will be a key strategic ally as we scale our research activities, grow our business and support Black Duck customers in the UK and Europe,” said Shipley.

Simon Hamilton, Northern Ireland’s Minister for the Economy, praised Black Duck’s investment and said “Our local software industry is fueled by a pool of high-quality software engineers working in a range of leading technology disciplines. In recent years Northern Ireland has made significant investments in cybersecurity research and in growing computer science student numbers at both Queen’s and Ulster universities. We also have a growing cluster of world-class companies involved in cybersecurity, making Northern Ireland a very attractive location for projects of this type.”

Use of open source software is ubiquitous worldwide and it is an essential component in application development today, often comprising 50 percent of the code in an application. The rapid growth in open source usage has created significant security and management challenges.

Shipley noted that open source use will continue to grow because of its economic, productivity and innovation benefits. “Our intent is to support that growth by helping organizations use more open source more securely.”

About Black Duck

Organizations worldwide use Black Duck’s industry-leading products to automate the process of securing and managing open source software, eliminating the pain related to security vulnerabilities, compliance and operational risk. Black Duck is headquartered in Burlington, MA, and has offices in San Jose, CA, London, Frankfurt, Hong Kong, Tokyo, Seoul and Beijing. For more information, visit www.blackducksoftware.com.

Contacts

Black Duck
Brian Carter, 508-277-7570
Director of Strategic Communications
bcarter@blackducksoftware.com
or
PAN Communications
Michael O’Connell and Lisa Sorrentino
617-502-4300
blackduck@pancomm.com

Release Summary

Black Duck today announced the formation of its Belfast-based Open Source Security Research Group during an event at Invest Northern Ireland’s headquarters in Belfast.

Social Media Profiles

Contacts

Black Duck
Brian Carter, 508-277-7570
Director of Strategic Communications
bcarter@blackducksoftware.com
or
PAN Communications
Michael O’Connell and Lisa Sorrentino
617-502-4300
blackduck@pancomm.com