Tech Data and Horizon3.ai partner to bolster regional cybersecurity offering

New partnership lets partners deliver automated penetration-testing services and validate customer defences at scale across Asia Pacific.

Tech Data has announced a partnership with Horizon3.ai to bring its NodeZero cybersecurity platform to the region for the first time.

It will give local partners access to NodeZero’s autonomous pen testing and exposure management platform. It simulates real-world attacks to help organisations uncover and validate vulnerabilities before attackers can exploit them.

Tech Data will provide partners with resources, technical guidance and localised support to add NodeZero to their security services.

This includes assistance with deploying and integrating into customer environments to enable partners to unlock new revenue streams and services.

Craig Ashwood, Tech Data ANZ’s security business unit leader, said the collaboration helps partners keep pace as cybersecurity moves towards automation and continuous testing.

Security service providers can offer penetration-testing-as-a-service in a highly scalable, automation-based model. It enable pentesting to be done daily, or even hourly, to capture configuration changes that traditional tools can’t offer.

“Any enterprise safeguarding customer data through ironclad compliance and privacy rules stands to benefit from this partnership,” Ashwood told CRN Australia.

Partner opportunities in security services

Organisations are shifting from treating cybersecurity as compliance to making it a strategic priority. To do so, they need effective, scalable solutions that can adapt to the changing risk environment, Ashwood said.

In response, the cybersecurity market is growing rapidly across the region, with a range of opportunities for partners to expand their services and add value.

Tech Data’s Direction of Technology 2025 report found nearly three-quarters of partners are offering or planning to offer at least one cybersecurity solution, prioritising data and privacy (81 percent), network security (78 percent) and cloud/app security (77 percent).

Yet, much like their customers, almost half of partners cite skills shortages as their primary challenge, highlighting a pressing need for expertise.

“As customers contend with these skill shortages, partners with specialised security skills will have the upper hand and prove critical in strengthening security postures,” Ashwood said.

Furthermore, as AI workloads and attack surfaces evolve, there will be greater emphasis on adaptive, real-time detection and mitigation. Ashwood advised partners and customers to avoid static, multi-year AI security plans based on today’s applications.

“They must look to flexible, continuously updated strategies,” he said.

It means embracing both AI for security and security for AI, which is already shaping security trends.

“Partners must embrace it to capitalise on the growing need for enhanced security solutions,” he ended.