Dorset Cyber company takes part in Government pilot

A Dorset cyber-security company has completed a three month pilot working for the Government Security Group (GSG) within the Cabinet Office.

C3IA Solutions, headquartered in Poole, delivered a pilot for ‘GovAssure’, the new cyber-security assurance regime for government.

This regime, which has just launched, provides new and enhanced cyber security measures to better protect the UK government’s IT systems from threats.

The company has more than 130 employees, many of whom are ex-military, and provides cyber security support and consultancy across many organisations.

Jim Hawkins from C3IA Solutions said: “We have a long and very positive track record of providing support to government departments and other public sector organisations.

“For more than a decade we have also provided our services to private companies, from SMEs upwards.

“This recent work for the GSG was delivering a pilot for GovAssure, which is a regime that will mean all government departments and other related bodies having their cyber-security reviewed under more stringent measures.

“It is run by the Cabinet Office with input from the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC).

“The government itself has acknowledged the ‘growing cyber threats’ and our task was to conduct an assessment, using the NCSC Cyber Assessment Framework (CAF), on a government department and to help the Cabinet Office refine the process in preparation of it going live.

“It was a rewarding contract that allowed us to work in collaboration with the GSG, NCSC and government department to achieve the desired outcome.

“GovAssure introduces a number of changes in the way government protects itself from cyber threats.

“As we were one of only two companies involved with the GovAssure pilot, we have gained a detailed insight of the process, and based on this knowledge and experience we are now able to assist other government departments and organisations as they go through the same process.

“What we learned can also be applied to business. Hostile hackers won’t just target government agencies, but companies too – and not just big businesses, but any business.

“Cyber Essentials should be a starting point for companies, and this Government-backed scheme gives a basic level of protection.

“But cyber-security is an ongoing task and it should be as important as physical security.

According to the Cabinet Office’s Cost of Cyber Crime Report, the cost to the UK economy through cyber-crime is £27bn.

It adds: “The ease of access to and relative anonymity provided by ICT lowers the risk of being caught while making crimes straightforward to conduct.

“Our results challenge the conventional wisdom that cyber-crime is solely a matter of concern for the Government and the Critical National Infrastructure (CNI), indicating that much larger swathes of industry are at risk.

“The results of this study suggest that businesses need to look again at their defences to determine whether their information is indeed well protected.

“Encouraging companies in all sectors to make investments in improved cyber security, based on improved risk assessments, is likely to considerably reduce the economic impact of cyber-crime on the UK.”