DNV creates European cyber security services powerhouse through merger with Nixu and Applied Risk

February 12, 2024

DNV, a global assurance and risk management provider, has created one of Europe’s ‘fastest growing’ cyber security services businesses by merging DNV’s existing cyber security business with two recently acquired companies – Nixu and Applied Risk.

Nixu CEO Teemu Salmi has been appointed to lead the combined business, which will adopt the brand name DNV Cyber from mid-2024. Operating from offices in 11 countries, the business provides an enhanced portfolio of consulting and managed cyber security services.

The merger brings together more than 500 cybersecurity experts to safeguard demanding IT and industrial control system environments across multiple industries. It follows DNV’s acquisition of Amsterdam-based industrial cyber security specialist Applied Risk in 2021, and the conclusion of DNV’s acquisition of Helsinki-headquartered cyber security services leader Nixu in December 2023.

“Cyber security is a defining risk for the coming decade. Cyber risks can have huge safety, reliability, environmental, and financial impacts and threaten the functioning of our societies,” Remi Eriksen, group president and CEO at DNV, said in a media statement. “This merger combines Nixu’s broad portfolio of IT and managed cyber security services, Applied Risk’s leading position in securing industrial control systems, and DNV’s domain expertise in critical infrastructure industries.”

Together, Eriksen added that “we have created a business that delivers on all aspects of our customers’ cyber security needs and prepares us for significant future growth.”

“We are on a united mission to become the most customer-centric cyber security services business in Europe. Enabling this are the exceptional people who make up our business and deliver value to our customers,” according to Salmi. “This is the place where cyber security professionals will grow and make a difference. And it is where businesses across the world will seek the trustworthy technical expertise they need to enhance safety and resilience in an era of rising digital risk, geopolitical uncertainty, and tightening regulation.”

DNV and Nixu have also combined their management systems certification businesses, increasing the capacity to provide information security certification and training services. These include information security management systems certification (ISO/IEC 27001), national security assessments, CSA STAR cloud service certifications, payment card industry (PCI) security assessments, and healthcare information system security assessments.

The merged cyber security services business will partner with customers and the security community to drive innovation and industry best practices. It will benefit from DNV’s long-term commitment to research and innovation, in which five percent of the company’s revenue is reinvested into research and development programs.

DNV had in November 2021 announced that it has joined forces with industrial cyber security company Applied Risk to help customers across a range of industrial sectors identify their cyber risks, build a powerful force of defense against threats, recover from attacks, and win stakeholder trust and support. The industrial sectors include energy, maritime, manufacturing, chemicals, utilities, and healthcare.