Smart Cyber Defence Center (SCDC)
Detect suspicious activity and react quickly
Did you know that it takes an average of 200 days for a company to detect a data breach? Is your organisation able to identify cyber threats and proactively manage vulnerabilities? Could your company’s security benefit from closer collaboration between security-related teams? A fully functional Security Operations Center (SOC) is a company’s alarm system. It ensures that companies can detect suspicious activity in real time and react quickly and competently.
Without a SOC, there is often a lack of transparency to protect business-critical assets and effectively manage IT security. A traditional SOC’s main task is to identify and classify incidents and to support incident response. We recommend going one step further by expanding the SOC into a company-wide cyber competence center. We call this approach the Smart Cyber Defence Center (SCDC). We believe that to thoroughly protect your company, the SOC must work closely together with business and IT functions.
Our services
Advisory for target operating model
A Smart Cyber Defence Center should be aligned with the company’s specific requirements. The management must make well-founded decisions – from the choice of features, functions and technologies to organisational integration and cooperation with external service providers. We will support you along the way.
Developing the cyber defence center
Our security experts will help you design and build your Smart Cyber Defence Center. In addition to our advisory role, we can provide you with experienced analysts right from the beginning to cover the initial phase of operations. You will also benefit from our wide range of experience in selecting and implementing the right tools and technology.
Maturity assessment
Based on our long-standing experience and best practice, PwC experts can assess the maturity of your SOC and derive precise recommendations for action. We will show you how you perform compared to your competitors and in terms of industry standards and best practices.
Red team assessment
We can conduct red team assessments, where we gradually increase the intensity of the attacks on your company. Based on your defensive measures, we evaluate the ability of your SOC to detect and deal with suspicious activity. We can perform red team assessments conforming to the high standards of the ECB TIBER-EU, a red teaming framework developed jointly by the European Central Bank and the EU national central banks.
Smart Cyber Defence Center Framework
- Incident detection
- Incident response and investigation
- Attack surface management
- Digital brand protection
- Platform engineering
- Threat intelligence and hunting
Incident detection
The SCDC can discover suspicious activity within the company in all relevant infrastructure and applications in real time. Anomalies detected are classified and evaluated in a timely manner in order to decide if a real incident has occurred and if further steps are necessary.
Incident response and investigation
The SCDC can handle an incident throughout its life cycle, from detection, through dealing with the incident, to forensic investigation in the aftermath. The tools used allow a high degree of automation, so that the highest possible level of security is guaranteed and synergy effects are fully exploited.
Attack surface management
The SCDC is the company’s information security competence centre. This essential expertise is also used to uncover vulnerabilities in the IT infrastructure, to contribute to security-relevant decision making and to gather useful information about the current security status.
Digital brand protection
Since the SCDC actively monitors various channels, it detects at an early stage when attacks and new modus operandi are emerging or when the company brand is being misused for fraudulent activities. Thus, the SCDC not only protects the company itself, but also the company’s customers and suppliers.
Platform engineering
The SCDC is entrusted with the company’s information security on a daily basis. Therefore, the technologies used in the SCDC for preventing, detecting and dealing with incidents undergo continuous improvement. With each additional incident, the company’s cyber resilience will improve significantly.
Threat intelligence and hunting
The SCDC integrates global operational, tactical and strategic knowledge of security incidents into its own processes in order to further increase the company’s resilience. In addition, the SCDC is also able to identify and prevent potential unknown threats.
What makes us special – your benefits
International network
We can tap into knowledge and experience from our worldwide expert network. Our own Smart Cyber Defence Centers are market-leading and protect over 250,000 endpoints across the PwC network. In the Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) region alone, we employ more than 200 specialists in security operations.
Independent from all providers
We are independent of software and other service providers. In short: we are free of any vested interests and can advise you in the best possible way. Of course, we are familiar with all the common tools and their advantages and disadvantages from our own experience.
Knowledge of the market
As one of the leading management consulting companies, we also have a deep understanding of business processes and your business models. We use this knowledge to achieve the best possible synergies while supporting you throughout your journey to cyber resilience.
Partnership model
Our goal is to work together with you on an equal footing. You decide, while we analyse, advise and implement for you. We take responsibility that you entrust to us – as well as responsibility for your whole security transformation.
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Daniela Geretshuber
Member of the Board and People and Corporate Sustainability Leader, PwC Germany