VERTO

Staying compliant and protected around the clock

As a not-for-profit delivering essential workforce, employment, community and training services across Australia, VERTO is committed to strong cybersecurity. The organization’s contracts with Government agencies demand uncompromising compliance and information security. Like many mission-driven organizations with limited security teams, VERTO’s standard business hours operation left a security gap during off-hours when global threat actors are most active.

Ryan Priest, Chief Information Officer at VERTO explained, “While we’re asleep, threat actors from regions such as Russia and China are wide awake, potentially probing our System and users for vulnerabilities. That asymmetry puts us at a real disadvantage and remains an active threat, not uncommon amongst organizations across Australia and it’s a real challenge to manage.”

Maintaining control and total accountability

Comprehensive  government compliance mandates meant VERTO couldn’t entirely lean on a Managed Detection and Response (MDR) provider for additional support. By compliance standards, VERTO must keep all information and security operations within Australian borders, and most MDR providers rely on overseas staff or information processing facilities offshore.

“Even if we outsourced to an Australian-based MDR, our contracts still hold us 100% accountable for any security or privacy breaches that may occur, we cannot simply overlook this responsibility,” said Priest. “In many ways, it’s simpler and more cost-effective to own the risk directly, provided we have the right technology, personnel, and strategy in place.”

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When Priest joined VERTO, his mandate was clear: build a cybersecurity and information security strategy to withstand modern threats and meet ongoing strict compliance mandates. To rapidly scale, he chose to invest in advanced, AI-driven threat detection and autonomous response technology to fortify the company’s defense in depth strategic approach.

Simplified, unified, and cost-effective security

VERTO evaluated Darktrace with other modern cybersecurity solutions but found they only solved part of the problem. “One did email but nothing else; another covered network monitoring but couldn’t support SaaS, cloud or Microsoft 365 environments like Darktrace could,” said Priest. However, Darktrace offered robust, AI-supported defenses across network, endpoint, cloud, and email environments for a single, unified defense. VERTO conducted a cost analysis, which revealed managing multiple bespoke systems was more expensive than selecting Darktrace. “It was a no-brainer. Why juggle multiple tools when Darktrace provide a comprehensive suite of coverage?”

A partner invested in success

Darktrace proved a genuine provider: flexible, proactive, and invested in VERTO’s success from day one. “Relationships matter,” said Priest. “For me, there was no better choice than selecting Darktrace.” Today, VERTO is using the Darktrace ActiveAI Security Platform™ as a key cornerstone of its defense strategy, including:

• Darktrace / CLOUD™
• Darktrace / ENDPOINT™
• Darktrace / EMAIL™
• Darktrace / IDENTITY™
• Darktrace / NETWORK™
• Darktrace Cyber AI Analyst™

Under intense compliance pressure, VERTO needed a fast, smooth implementation – and Darktrace delivered. After a successful Proof of Value (PoV), Darktrace quickly deployed agents to VERTO’s sites, providing visibility from day one. “Darktrace solution engineers guided us every step of the way. It was incredibly easy,” said Priest. The team stayed hands-on, working with VERTO’s SysOps and SecOps staff to configure probes, integrate with primary platforms we utilize, and helped meet strict controls related to compliance requirements.

Darktrace’s flexible architecture allowed VERTO to connect security controls across the entire environment. Integrating with a range of mission-critical and operational platforms, Darktrace receives, and shares intelligence ingest from these platforms, orchestrating defensive actions automatically based on AI learning and rapid response capabilities. This ecosystem approach gives VERTO a single point of reference and a unified security posture across its workloads and platforms while supporting existing solutions.

What started as an on-premises deployment has continued to evolve alongside VERTO’s broader IT transformation. As VERTO continues to evolve its System, Darktrace supports the process every step of the way, helping retire legacy appliances and transition to cloud-native probes. “There’s something special about that,” said Priest. “Other vendors try to upsell or add hidden fees when you change infrastructure. Darktrace did the opposite: they stuck with us, helped us meet our cloud coverage by supporting us with skilled resources from the get-go, and most importantly never nickel-and-dimed us for it with complete transparency.”

Proactive, AI-driven cyber defense delivers quantifiable ROI

Today, VERTO’s cybersecurity posture looks radically different from two years ago. “Darktrace, alongside other major cybersecurity vendors have become one of our primary security providers and a cornerstone of our long-term cybersecurity defense in depth strategy,” said Priest.

Round-the-clock autonomous protection provides peace of mind

At the heart of this transformation is Darktrace’s ability to ingest and monitor VERTO’s digital estate activity 24/7, including network, email, SaaS applications, and endpoints. Within the past 12 months alone, Darktrace Autonomous Response has:

• Sifted 8.4 billion events down to just 19 critical incidents, cutting alert noise by more than 99.9%¹
• Conducted 6,851 total investigations, resolving 96% of those autonomously and escalating only 4% to analysts
• Controlled 3,507 behaviors showing signs indicative of an attack

Since implementing Darktrace, Priest says it’s clear there’s a constant stream of threat activity, whether it’s unusual behavior form users or devices, or known active threats like probing, brute-force attacks, and phishing campaigns. What’s changed is VERTO’s ability to rapidly intercept these threats alongside its dedicated SecOps resources before they can surface inside the organization and cause damage.

With Darktrace AI contributing to the monitoring of VERTO’s system 24/7, the security team can sleep well knowing proactive system defenses will detect, intercept, and block potential malicious activity before they escalate. In one instance, Darktrace flagged suspicious logins from contractors operating within support centers overseas outside of business hours, violating VERTO’s strict policy that all contractors must be based in Australia. The system automatically blocked the login attempts, limiting any risk of a potential privacy breach that manual monitoring might have missed, This response allowed the SecOps team to respond and follow-up with the unusual activity for rapid resolution.

From firefighting to a cost-effective proactive defense

Within the first year, Darktrace saved VERTO 2,632 analyst hours on investigations¹. To date, VERTO estimates Darktrace has already saved the company significantly related spend due to increased efficiencies it brings to the team, not to mention that extra peace of mind.

Rather than laborious manual tasks like reviewing primary platform logs for suspicious activity, security analysts are focusing on proactive threat hunting, critical incident investigations, and strengthening security controls with continuous improvement initiatives. “Darktrace has made our lives so much easier,” said Priest. “When combined and working alongside our other cybersecurity investments we’re delivering enhanced protection other organizations would struggle to achieve. I’d rather invest in innovation, especially AI-centric innovation that empowers our cybersecurity efforts, rather than having our valuable resources burned out through administration overload. Darktrace makes that possible by surfacing events that have context and meaning to our organization and our patterns of life such as user baseline analysis.”

Flawless audit and transparent insights earn Board-level trust

Perhaps the strongest proof of Darktrace’s value is VERTO’s recent audit success. “There was not a single major finding in our most recent audit. Zero. That’s a night-and-day improvement and Darktrace played a critical role in helping us achieve this. The team and I were proud to meet such high standards.” Priest said.

Transparent insights into blocked network, SaaS and email incidents, threat severity, and response actions have earned the trust of the wider executive and senior management team, and even the board. “I often use Darktrace as a tool to support board and executive reporting, as teams can see verifiable, auditable proof that our investment is protecting the business,” said Priest. “Darktrace isn’t just technology. It’s a tool for building trust whilst justifying and supporting smart growth across our System and Cybersecurity landscape.”

Building on a strong foundation

For VERTO, security transformation is a continuous process. As it accelerates its adoption of modern platforms, Darktrace remains central in supporting its users, systems, and the organization. By deepening integrations with major platforms and technologies, VERTO is strengthening defenses and freeing its skilled team to focus on proactive improvements instead of routine triage. This commitment to innovation means VERTO isn’t just keeping up with threats, it’s staying ahead and adapting.

Priest concludes, “Darktrace, alongside other cybersecurity technologies, provides a solid component to the backbone of our defense in depth strategy. With robust, adaptable AI, we’re well positioned to continue protect our people, information, and mission as we continue to evolve and grow.”

1: Customer Interview. (2025). Ryan Priest, Chief Information Officer at VERTO and Cyber AI Insights report