KPMG Australia buying IAM vendor First Point Global

Professional services company KPMG Australia is acquiring APAC identity and access management (IAM) vendor First Point Global as part of the global push to expand KPMG’s security capabilities.

As part of the purchase, First Point Global’s employees - including founding partners John Havers and Jan Zeilinga and their team of 30 IAM experts - will join KPMG’s cybersecurity team.

KPMG will rename the combined team KPMG First Point Global, which will provide a full host of cybersecurity services including consulting, systems integration and support.

According to Havers, discussions around digital identity and access management have graduated from the back room to the boardroom.

“Ten years ago, we were having discussions with technologists about authentication and authorisation. Our discipline then became important for audit, risk and finance to address growing compliance requirements,” he said.

“Today, digital identity and its management underpins customer-facing services which are strategic for the growth and survival of businesses, and C-level executives and boards care about that.”

The purchase marks the fourth cybersecurity acquisition by the KPMG international network in the past five months. It will also be KPMG Australia’s sixth acquisition in the past 18 months, following the purchase of consultancies in areas including social media risk management.

“Cybersecurity is one of the greatest risks facing business today. The critical challenge of protecting information systems and assets, and the reputational and regulatory implications of failing to do so continue to raise the stakes on cybersecurity and governance,” KPMG Global Head of Cyber Security Malcolm Marshall said.