Rook Security plans to add 132 jobs in Indianapolis

Rook Security, a fast-growing provider of IT security, said Tuesday that it plans to expand its Indianapolis headquarters, creating up to 132 jobs by 2024.

Rook will invest $589,000 to upgrade and buy new equipment at its headquarters at 120 E. Market St. downtown.

The company, which relocated here from the Silicon Valley five years ago, currently employs 53 locally. It expects to begin hiring for development, sales and consulting positions this fall.

“The universities in the state of Indiana are producing great talent, and that talent pool is brilliant,” said J.J. Thompson, Rook’s CEO. “The people here are hardworking, loyal and dedicated–it’s an amazing chemistry."

Rook provides global IT security solutions, including security consulting and security assessment, to protect companies and sensitive data from threats such as hacking. The company, which continues to operate in San Jose as well, works with startups to Fortune 500 companies in such industries as health care, finance and marketing.

The company ranked second this summer on IBJ’s list of fastest-growing companies in the Indianapolis area. Rook’s revenue last year was $6.9 million, up from $1.3 million in 2012.

Thompson recently told IBJ that growing problems with data breaches is helping fuel growth. “We’re taking care of people before, during and after an attack holistically with a combination of services, prophecy and technology,” he said. “We solve problems both at a technology level as well as a people-and-process level.”

The Indiana Economic Development Corp. offered Rook up to $2.7 million in tax credits and up to $140,000 in training grants based on the company’s job-creation plans. The incentives are performance-based, meaning the company can’t claim them until workers are hired.

The IEDC says that companies have created more than 5,000 technology-related jobs in central Indiana alone since 2009, It said the sector is growing at about 17 percent, more than double the growth of all occupations. According to trade group TechPoint, pay for the positions averages more than $75,000 annually.