The Welsh government has launched a national Security Operations Centre called CymruSOC for local authorities and emergency services.
The forward-thinking project is the first national scheme of its kind in the UK. It will see 18 local authorities along with fire and rescue services onboarded to the SOC for improved cybersecurity protection.
Cardiff-based managed detection and response (MDR) provider Socura has won a three-year contract to run CymruSOC. (A SOC, for those new to security, is like a central command post that pulls in data from across an organisation’s IT infrastructure like network devices, servers, and applications, to help detect and respond to potential security threats.)
Socura CEO Andrew Kays told The Stack that the team behind CymruSOC (led by the Welsh Government, in collaboration with Merthyr Tydfil County Borough Council) had done a lot of work over “the last year and a half to understand the requirements, spec out what's required.
“They're there now to support the adoption service” he added.
Onboarding 18 local authorities to a single SOC must be no mean feat, we suggest. "The approach at the moment is to understand what you've currently got and what can we help you with today... let's develop a roadmap here to increase your security posture by selecting better tooling for the future that can be managed more centrally. So it's a bit of a journey for all the local authorities here.
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"But again, the program's not trying to mandate anything – it's just trying to help improve those organisations. There's central funding here, as you've seen, for the programme and to support [local authorities et al] over time is the goal."
Some local authorities, like smaller businesses, still hold the view (if they hold a view at all) that cybersecurity threats like ransomware are something that happens elsewhere. What are Kays’ thoughts on how aware local authorities are of cyber risk? “I've seen a change over the last year”, he says. “Everyone we've spoken to… it's very much higher on their risk registers now, so I think there's a real realisation out there now.”
“That's the point of CymruSOC, which is all about really making that easier for those local authorities. It is really good to see the Welsh Government recognise it as something that's really important, and put something new in place to help the adoption of [cybersecurity services] for the local councils,” he added on a call today (May 10, 2024.)
CymruSOC will “safeguard the data of the majority of the Welsh population, as well as 60,000 employees across the public sector,” the team said in a press release.
Socura, founded by former Palo Alto Networks Senior Systems Engineer and vCISO Jamie Brummell, runs a 24/7 Threat Detection and Response managed service via a “nationally distributed” but UK-based SOC team.
It recently moved offices to Cardiff.
“The challenges people across Wales have faced in recent years due to the pandemic have shown the importance of digital in our lives,” said Welsh first minister Vaughan Gething. “It has become central to the way we learn, work, access public services and do business. However, our reliance on digital, has also led to a stark increase in the risk of cyber attacks which are becoming ever more common and sophisticated.
“CymruSOC is a first of its kind solution with social partnership at its heart – ensuring we take a ‘defend as one’ approach. It’s a vital part of our Cyber Action Plan for Wales, which – one year since its launch – is making good progress to protect public services and strengthen cyber resilience and preparedness.”
The SOC service, which will be managed by Cardiff-based firm, Socura, will safeguard the data of the majority of the Welsh population, as well as 60,000 employees across the public sector.
Wales' First Minister, Vaughan Gething said: “The challenges people across Wales have faced in recent years due to the pandemic have shown the importance of digital in our lives. It has become central to the way we learn, work, access public services and do business. However, our reliance on digital, has also led to a stark increase in the risk of cyber-attacks which are becoming ever more common and sophisticated.
“CymruSOC is a first of its kind solution with social partnership at its heart – ensuring we take a ‘defend as one’ approach. It’s a vital part of our Cyber Action Plan for Wales, which – one year since its launch – is making good progress to protect public services and strengthen cyber resilience and preparedness.”
In conjunction with the National Cyber Security Centre, CymruSOC will also share threat intelligence information to ensure onboarded partners are aware of emerging risks. Socura's contract is for three years.
