But competition is still fierce, with firms like Brink's and Securitas also in the field.

ECONOMIST: Why security firms are going upmarket

Sage is a former Navy cryptologic technician and worked as a computer security officer for Securitas corporation, CNet reports.

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The court was told the father-of-three, of Huntersfield Close, Chatham, Kent, was arrested in Rabat, Morocco four months after the Securitas raid and spent 20 months in jail before being extradited.

BBC: Raid 'mastermind' footage shown

For advice, it sought out former regulators from the Resolution Trust Corporation, charged in the 1980s with cleaning up America's savings-and-loan (thrift) crisis, and from Securitas, which handled Sweden's banking crisis in the early 1990s.

ECONOMIST: Lessons in dealing with duff loans

Shares of Securitas fell 8.8%.

WSJ: European Stocks Rise as Markets Close