The American cyber security firm Anomali plans to create 120 jobs in the North with the opening of its first European research and development lab in Belfast.

The Californian company, which specialises in helping organisations find and respond to cyber threats, intends to use its Belfast operations as a base to win new business in Europe and expand in its home market.

Anomali already has operations in London and Berlin but its chief executive, Hugh Njemanze said it intends to make Belfast the base for “developing new products” and scaling its business in Europe and beyond.

The company has already recruited 23 staff for its new lab, which is being backed by Invest NI with financial support totalling £780,000 (€914,181).

Invest NI has said the latest research suggests the North is the number one location in the world for cyber security inward investment, particularly by US firms outside their home territory.

Research funding

Separately, Centre for Secure Information Technologies (CSIT) at Queen’s University Belfast has said it is likely to secure £38.5 million of new research and development funding.

CSIT, the UK’s leading university centre for cyber security research, recently hosted its World Cyber Security Technology and Research Summit, which attracts international cyber security experts and leaders from the world of industry, academia and government to Belfast each year.

Invest NI is providing CSIT with £5.5 million of financial support to help it leverage funding from other sources.