Coliban Water taps SecMatters for managed cyber defence

Coliban Water has appointed SecMatters to provide managed security operations centre and security information and event management services, adding the regional utility to a growing group of essential services and regulated-sector clients using the Australian cyber security provider.

Coliban Water delivers water and wastewater services across north-central Victoria. Its selection of SecMatters comes as utilities and other essential service operators seek closer monitoring of cyber risks and incident activity.

The arrangement centres on managed SOC and SIEM support, with SecMatters working alongside clients on monitoring, alert triage, incident escalation and threat detection. In some cases, organisations retain ownership of their SIEM systems while the provider handles day-to-day oversight and ongoing tuning.

For Coliban Water, the focus is on improving visibility across its technology environment and advancing its cyber resilience program.

"SecMatters has taken the time to understand our environment, listen to our priorities and work with us in a collaborative and considered way. Their Australian-based leadership, technical expertise, responsiveness and partnership are helping us strengthen visibility and continue maturing our cyber resilience," said David Bentley, Manager Technology Platforms & Information Security, Coliban Water.

Coliban Water joins a client list that includes Eldercare, Haven Home Safe and SANE Australia, alongside organisations in mining, healthcare, community services and other regulated industries. The mix reflects broader demand from organisations facing regulatory scrutiny and needing to show they can detect and respond to cyber incidents in a measured way.

Team expansion

To support that growth, SecMatters has appointed Chintan Patel as Security Operations Lead. Based in Adelaide, Patel joins from the Northern Adelaide Local Health Network, where he was Digital Operations Lead.

The role is part of a wider investment in local service delivery and SOC operations. SecMatters is also looking to expand analyst resources in regional Bendigo, further building its Australian-based monitoring and response capacity.

"As demand grows, we are continuing to invest in the people and capability needed to support our clients. Chintan brings strong operational leadership and service delivery experience, which will help us continue to mature our SOC and deliver responsive, client-focused security operations. We are also planning to expand our analyst capability, including locally in regional Bendigo, as we continue building services around the needs of our clients," said Phillip Souter, Director, SecMatters.

The focus on domestic staffing reflects a recurring concern among infrastructure operators and regulated organisations over where monitoring takes place, who handles alerts and how quickly providers can respond when issues emerge. For regional and public-facing service providers, those questions have gained prominence as cyber incidents increasingly affect operations, customer data and service continuity.

Smaller organisations

SecMatters is also developing a lighter monitoring model for smaller and mid-market organisations. The proposed SOC Essentials model is intended for businesses with limited environments, such as those with 10 to 15 endpoints, or those that mainly need oversight of cloud applications, Microsoft 365 and core business systems.

That approach suggests a market shift away from the assumption that every organisation needs a full SOC model from the outset. Instead, some customers are seeking narrower services that give them visibility over priority systems without the cost and complexity of larger deployments.

Holly Popovic, Director of Growth and Partnerships, SecMatters, said the company was responding to customer demand across different stages of cyber maturity.

"As we grow, we are working closely with our clients and technology partners to understand what they need now and what they will need next. Obviously not every organisation needs a full-scale SOC from day one, but many still need better visibility across their cloud applications, Microsoft environments, endpoints and critical systems. Our focus is on meeting clients where they are, whether that means supporting an existing SIEM, delivering a managed SOC or building a lighter monitoring model that can scale as their needs mature," said Popovic.

SecMatters is also extending its work in AI security, data governance, access control, cloud security, identity, endpoint protection and email security. Its partner roster includes Abnormal AI, Concentric AI, Keeper Security and Zscaler.

Those adjacent areas reflect how cyber monitoring is becoming more closely linked with identity controls, cloud administration and data handling. As organisations adopt more cloud software and introduce AI tools into business processes, security teams are being asked to track a wider set of risks than traditional network monitoring alone covered.

Popovic said that trend was shaping how the business builds out its partner network and service mix.

"AI is changing the way organisations use data, manage access and respond to threats. Our focus is on building a practical ecosystem around our clients, so they can strengthen resilience in a way that is connected to their environment, maturity and risk profile. Growth for us is not just about adding more clients. It is about building the right capability, partnerships and trust to help clients prepare for what's next," said Popovic.