Cyber & Digital Resilience Assessment with PACE Networks
Case Study
Accelerate Cyber & Digital Resilience Assessment Case Study
PACE Networks called on Accelerate Technologies to conduct a cyber and digital resilience assessment of their business.
PACE Networks is a small business focused on the sales and distribution of market leading European products to the UK railway electrification and power grid industries. Utilising the latest cloud software applications and technologies enabled the company to grow quickly and compete with much larger organisations in an extremely competitive market.
The PACE Networks /
Challenge
The company’s resources have always been focused on market growth and customer service, and as such PACE had limited IT & Cyber Security skills. There was little appreciation for how reliant they had become on the technology and data that was now helping them to succeed.
Cloud applications like Office365, and a plethora of ERP and CRM systems have helped businesses like PACE to quickly implement technology without the IT knowledge and skills previously needed, but this IT self-sufficiency means they also put a great deal of trust in the supplier to protect their data from compromise or failure.
Unfortunately, PACE suffered first-hand from a common security threat that businesses face today. Compromised credentials through a Phishing email allowed a malicious attacker to access an email account, which could have easily led to an attempt to fraudulently extract money from customers and suppliers. Luckily, financial loss was averted but company reputation had been called into question, highlighting an immediate need to review their cyber security protection and policies.
The Accelerate /
Solution
PACE Networks called on Accelerate Technologies to conduct a Digital Resilience assessment of their business.
This helped them to understand their areas of technology dependency, the locations of sensitive and critical assets, and highlight areas of vulnerability.
The assessment provided PACE with an in-depth and accurate view of their current infrastructure and security state, presenting a level of business risk for each category.
Once a current state had been established, Accelerate Technologies were able to present both immediate remediations to reduce their risk, along with an actionable Risk management plan that could be followed to reduce risk further still.
PACE also gained a better understanding of how employee behaviour contributes to a large proportion of the threat that we all face.
“In a world where any disruption can impact upon a business’s ability to function, security and the risks imposed are becoming high on the agenda of businesses of all sizes.”
The Accelerate /
Method
Employee Security awareness was assessed using a controlled Phishing simulation, to understand existing levels of awareness and knowledge, followed up with a Cyber Awareness programme to deliver ongoing protection and assurance.
Improved access security was introduced for business critical applications using Two Factor Authentication (2FA). Features available to them through existing cloud subscriptions but previously unused.
Security misconfigurations and limitations in existing infrastructure and security policies were identified, caused by limited IT knowledge and understanding of best practice.
Provided insights to locations of critical data assets in cloud-based ERP application that would severely impact the operations of the business in the event of a failure or loss of data.
Third party relationships and their digital access to business critical assets were evaluated to clarify the needs and levels of access. The process Identified large financial risk through excessive privileges, shared passwords and user accounts.
Managed IT security and technology was introduced to provide PACE employees with a “call it out!” facility to fall back on. Accelerate Technologies experienced and knowledgeable security team on hand to cover any incident or threat.
“Accelerate opened our minds to the many areas of risk to our business”
Our /
Results
The initial Digital Resilience Assessment provided PACE Networks with a clearer understanding of how to protect from the known and unknown threats to their business. The expertise of Accelerate allowed the necessary technology to be implemented in a cost-effective way and without disruption to day to day business. Resilience was improved by introducing regular data backups and documented restore processes to react and recover for any eventuality.
An ongoing assessment service will ensure that PACE stay up to date with the threat landscape and avoid falling into past bad practices.
PACE Networks are now satisfied that their digital resilience will provide a level of confidence to them, their customers, and suppliers.
“When we suffered a close call from a potential email security breach, we knew that we needed to take action. Accelerate opened our minds to the many areas of risk to our business, then helped us to define an achievable and realistic state of digital resilience. We now feel protected from the known threats to our business, and we are confident that we will have the strength and knowledge to recover in the future should we suffer from a currently unknown threat.”
Simon Park, PACE Networks
Business Development Director
AT / Challenges
Focusing on the challenges businesses face, helping to combat with threat assessments and intelligent solutions.
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