▶ RELIAQUEST

large, open space.

Brian Murphy, CEO and founder of Reliaquest, describes watching what happens on those screens as a good game of soccer.

“An attacker has to be right one time. Defenders have to be right every time,” Murphy said. “Everybody likes to see a good goal scored, but it’s also pretty exciting to see a goalkeeper make a good save.”

Reliaquest monitors cybersecurity and tinkers within client networks, trying to get more of their internal systems to be compatible with one another. Similarly, Reliaquest works to make different cybersecurity tools within a client’s operation talk to one another,

so people monitoring their system can see more of what’s going on.

The company has approximately 200 customers, including Fortune 1000 businesses and enterprise-level companies based all over the U.S., but none in Nevada.

Las Vegas is Reliaquest’s first office branch outside of its headquarters in Tampa. The company moved into Las Vegas in October 2015, initially occupying a 3,000-squarefoot office space on Fort Apache and Russell roads. Last month Reliaquest moved to its new Security Operations Center, which is four times the size of its old site.

Las Vegas will be a platform to pursue more Western-based clients, Murphy said, adding that the city was his first choice for an expansion because of its location.

The company was recruiting talent Thursday at an information and security conference called Bsides at the Tuscany.

“Given that we hire so much from outside the state of Nevada, it’s been really nice and a good place to sell as a good place to live,” Murphy said.

That ratio of out-of-state to in-state hires isn’t because of something lacking in Las Vegas’ technology talent pool, he said. Rather, the company needs more time to understand the local talent landscape.

Founded in 2007, Reliaquest currently has about 200 employees in Tampa, with plans for additional hiring there as well.

Contact Nicole Raz at nraz@ reviewjournal.com or 702-380-4512. Follow @Journalistnikki on Twitter.