Cybersecurity Company Opens Ballston Office to Harness Military Talent

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(Updated at 1:30 p.m.) Cybersecurity is an ongoing and growing concern in the corporate sector, but IT security company Praetorian seeks to help test corporate security networks and make the internet a safer place to do business.

Praetorian started in Austin, Texas in 2010, but recently opened their office inside Techspace in Ballston this summer. Matthew Eble, Practice Director at Praetorian’s Arlington branch, said the move to Arlington was prompted by the local talent base — namely, the large number of active duty military and veterans in and around Arlington.

“We find that people who are most successful in what we do are disproportionately former military,” said Eble. “We wanted to focus on where the expertise is.”

In addition to Arlington, Eble said there are plans to expand elsewhere on the East Coast as the company grows, though the Ballston office is likely to remain the biggest of the satellite locations.

“There’s a massive supply and demand mismatch in cybersecurity,” said Eble “There is a lot of need for cyber security expertise.”

Praetorian sets itself apart by focusing on the attacker perspective, Eble said — instead of providing a general defensive structure, Praetorian probes system networks to find vulnerabilities.

“There are people that defend a network, that’s risk management, but there’s a lot of need for understanding what the attackers [look for],” said Eble. “We help clients solve those security problems.”

Eble said companies start with a network penetration test to find the holes in a security system that attackers could exploit. These vulnerabilities can range from hardware to software-related issues.

Beyond network testing, Praetorian works with clients to develop a roadmap for greater security coverage to help organizations prevent, detect, and respond to security threats.

There are six employees at the Arlington location but around 50 overall in the company. That includes 30 engineers, who work directly with clients, according to Eble.