Cyber Griffin – Cyber Security Tool

With multinational banks as one of its biggest clients, the City of London Police is helping to keep our money and data safe by providing free cyber protection to SMEs and charities. The team, called Cyber Griffin, uses a unique cyber security tool developed by the Defence Science and Technology Laboratory (Dstl) to support them in protecting the public and organisations from cyber-crime.

01.

Overview

  • Dstl licenses CDCAT cyber risk assessment software to APMG International in 2014, City of London’s Cyber crime unit take it on in 2020.

02.

Applications

  • Cyber security vulnerability assessment
  • Cyber security diagnostics
  • Cyber protection
  • Victim support

03.

Impact

  • Helping to keep money and data safe through its work with multinational banks
  • Providing free cyber protection to SMEs and charities
  • Helping to lessen the impact of cyber-crime on victims

CDCAT has offered a very practical and robust means of assessing,  advising and ultimately assisting businesses within our community.

DC David Humphries, City of London Police Cyber Griffin representative

perspective

The Story

Originally developed by Dstl, CDCAT® combines the strengths of multiple cyber security controls to deliver advanced cyber security assessments.

In licensing CDCAT® we sought to maximise the contribution it could bring to the product portfolio of a UK business, as well as the impact it could have to improve the cyber defences of governments, businesses and critical national infrastructure worldwide. The successful license was APMG International, selected due to their reputation as a leading provider of cyber security training accreditation, certification, and consulting services.

Programmer in front of monitor
Since taking on CDCAT, APMG has advanced the underlying technology even further, extending its capabilities to turn it into a commercially viable product suitable for today’s cyber threat landscape. The new software combines the original innovative technology and verifiable scientific data to deliver a robust platform for APMG’s world-leading cyber security services.

In 2019, APMG supplied The City of London Police’s Cyber Griffin team with CDCAT® with the aim to provide free cyber security and protection to many SMEs and small charities in the Square Mile.

As it transpired, the first to seek Cyber Griffin’s assistance were two multinational organisations where CDCAT® was deployed to help them keep their systems safe by identifying weak spots and suggesting mitigation strategies.

Cyber Griffin has also provided the intended free support to SMEs and charities who might otherwise not have been able to access such a robust cyber security review.

In describing the benefits of CDCAT® Cyber Griffin representative and Detective Constable, David Humphries says: “CDCAT has made our service more effective. We have always offered best practice advice but CDCAT enables us to tailor this to the companies needs and to build an evidence base the company can then take forward on their security journey. In our experience the agility of CDCAT’s design has made it as applicable to SME’s as to large organisations.

“Our use of CDCAT has generated very positive feedback. From our perspective, seeing impactive security improvements being made within organisations following our work together has been very gratifying. We believe that many of our greatest opportunities to resist cyber criminality lie in working with the community to improve our collective defences to it. Therein CDCAT has offered a very practical and robust means of assessing, advising and ultimately assisting businesses within our community.

“CDCAT plays to our strengths in terms of its interview based and people orientated approach. More people and businesses now trust us when it comes to offering good advice in a complex and challenging field of security.”

The Technology

Described by APMG as “the most powerful operational risk assessment service ever created”, the Cyber Defence Capability Assessment Tool (CDCAT®) is a software tool that measures the effectiveness of an organisation’s cyber defences and gives users the ability to evaluate cyber security risks and to identify and prioritise improvements.

Inputs from commercial, military, and intelligence sources from around the world including NATO, ISO 27000, and leading independent bodies are included in CDCAT®. It combines these to generate a comprehensive set of standards which address multiple aspects of cyber risk management.

businesswoman with laptop working at office

Benefits

  • Investment in improving cyber defence can be made in the right places – based on real, comprehensive evidence
  • Assessments can be performed on any organization – regardless of size, systems, risk or any other context
  • Quickly assess the effectiveness of implemented controls thanks to the ability to perform assessments rapidly and repeatedly, anytime
  • CDCAT’s intelligence is continuously updated to evolve with continuously evolving cyber threats

Fact file

Innovation source – Dstl
Licensed to – APMG International
Applications – Cyber security assessment
End user – City of London Police

Project Milestones

2010

Defence Science and Technology Laboratory (Dstl) start development work on CDCAT®.

2014

Licensed to APMG International by Ploughshare and Dstl.

2019

APMG supply CDCAT® to The City of London Police Cyber Griffin team.

More information

Click below to visit APMG’s website for more information on CDCAT.

CDCAT

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