We note that BT has extended its cyber security agreement with the UK Ministry of Defence (MoD). The new seven year agreement is great news for BT. Air Commodore Tim Bishop, Head of Service Operations, MoD, talks in the press release of the “success of the existing services” and the fact that BT has already delivered a “world leading global defence solution”. Accordingly, he states it made sense for the MoD to build on its existing relationship with the company.
This must be heartening to hear for the many major SITS suppliers looking to hold onto existing public sector business. It does, though, highlight the importance that the leading SIs need to place on communicating the value large companies can bring to the MoD (and wider Government) i.e. the ability to invest heavily in building such solutions. BT’s Assure Cyber capabilities can be accredited up to IL5 (for the uninitiated, security levels range from IL1-IL6 – IL6 ("Top Secret") being the highest. IL5 relates to “Secret” assets – see here). It is costly for organisations to achieve high levels of security accreditation. Take CatN, an SME web hosting provider highlighted in our recent report (SMEs in Government: the ICT picture): it estimates that to achieve IL3 ("Restricted") security level clearance would cost the company c£100K... a substantial sum for an SME but a drop in the ocean for the likes of BT.