Public Services
Protect the services people rely on
Residents and businesses depend on public services being available and their data being safe. DarkGuard gives public bodies one accountable partner for cybersecurity, IT operations, and governance, so leaders can meet their assurance obligations and direct budgets where they make the most difference.
The challenge
Public services run on technology
Public bodies hold sensitive personal data, run services people cannot do without, and are held to account in public when something goes wrong. Security and resilience are now standing items for chief executives, senior leadership teams, and elected members. Four pressures in particular now reach the leadership team.
Assurance frameworks expect evidence
Public bodies are increasingly assessed against structured cyber frameworks and have to show, with evidence, that their controls achieve the expected outcomes.
Budgets and skills are stretched
Security teams are small, specialist skills are hard to recruit, and every budget line has to be justified.
Services depend on suppliers
Outsourced IT, cloud platforms, and shared-service partners sit inside most services. Your organisation remains accountable for how they are managed.
Incidents happen in public
When a service goes down, residents, the media, and oversight bodies expect clear information quickly. How the response is handled matters as much as the technical fix.
How we support you
Cybersecurity, IT, and governance from one partner
Public bodies often rely on several suppliers for IT, security, and assurance, and small internal teams spend their time coordinating between them. We bring this work together in one engagement, delivered by senior people, with one point of accountability to you.
Governance, risk & compliance
Governance and evidence that stand up to assessment and audit.
- — CAF-aligned governance (UK public sector): policies, processes, and controls mapped to the Cyber Assessment Framework, with evidence prepared to the standard auditors expect
- — Compliance & policy framework: practical policies aligned to the frameworks you are assessed against
- — Third-party & supply chain risk management: due diligence and monitoring of IT suppliers, cloud platforms, and shared-service partners
- — Security awareness & training: role-based training and phishing simulations for staff and elected members
Virtual CISO
Senior security leadership without a full-time hire.
- — Fractional CISO leadership: a named senior security leader, typically two to four days a month
- — Board & executive cyber reporting: clear reporting for senior leaders, audit committees, and elected members
- — Security strategy & roadmap development: a multi-year plan that fits your budget cycle
- — Security programme governance: clear oversight of security priorities, spend, and delivery
ICT services
Reliable IT, run to a defined standard with clear accountability and documented procedures.
- — Cloud infrastructure & migration: cloud environments designed, migrated, and managed
- — Network & connectivity: office and remote connectivity, managed and monitored
- — End-user computing & workspace: Microsoft 365, devices, and onboarding and offboarding of staff
- — Managed service desk: a single point of contact for your staff, with defined service levels
- — IT infrastructure & systems management: servers, storage, backups, and patching
Managed detection & response
Continuous monitoring, so unusual activity is spotted and handled early.
- — MDR & XDR services (24/7 managed detection & response): monitoring and response across devices, identities, network, and cloud, around the clock
- — SIEM engineering & operations: log data from your critical systems collected and reviewed in one place
- — Threat intelligence & detection engineering: detection tuned to the threats that target public bodies
Incident response & forensics
An experienced response team on call, working to a plan agreed with you in advance.
- — Security incident response: fast triage and containment, with reporting obligations tracked from the first alert
- — Incident & escalation management: severity levels, decision rights, and escalation paths agreed in advance
- — Digital forensics & containment: evidence collected and preserved with a clear chain of custody
- — Crisis communication & stakeholder management: coordinated communication with residents, staff, partners, and oversight bodies
Operational resilience
Confidence that essential services keep running and recover when something fails.
- — Recovery planning & business continuity: continuity and disaster recovery plans for the services residents rely on most
- — Business continuity & cyber resilience testing: tabletop exercises for senior leaders and incident teams, and technical recovery tests
- — Recovery execution & system rebuilding: clean rebuilds and integrity checks before systems return to service
- — Critical data & records management: critical data and records classified and protected, with backup and recovery procedures that are tested
Every service runs to the NIST Cybersecurity Framework (CSF) 2.0. You can take all six as a managed service or start with the areas where your gaps are largest.
How we engage
How we work with you
Assess
A fixed-scope review of where you stand against the framework you are assessed against. You receive a summary for senior leaders and a prioritised plan.
Build
We close the priority gaps in governance, controls, and recovery. Every finding gets an owner and a remediation date.
Run
We deliver the agreed services day to day and meet with you every quarter to review progress against your risk appetite.
Additional services
Specialist services when you need them
Attack surface management
Asset discovery & inventory, vulnerability management & assessment, penetration testing & adversary simulation, and configuration & hardening reviews. Every finding is tracked until it is fixed.
Identity & data protection
Data security & privacy protection, identity & access management, and encryption & key management, so the right people have access to the right systems and residents' data stays protected.
AI enablement
AI adoption is moving faster than AI governance in most organisations. From an AI readiness assessment to AI governance, risk & policy and AI security awareness & training, we help make AI in casework and resident services safe and defensible.
Regulatory fluency
Fluent in the frameworks you are assessed against
Whichever framework or oversight body applies, the expectations follow the same themes. We work with your information governance, audit, and technology teams in the same conversation.
Governance and accountability
Clear ownership of cyber risk, a named senior risk owner, and regular reporting to leadership and members.
Suppliers and shared services
Due diligence, contracts, and ongoing monitoring for the suppliers and partners your services depend on.
Resilience of essential services
Essential services identified, recovery planned, and plans tested against realistic scenarios.
Incident reporting
Incidents and data breaches reported within the deadlines that apply, with a clear record of each decision.
Evidence for assessments
Policies, tests, and remediation records kept current, so assessments and audits start from documents that already exist.
Talk to us about where your organisation stands today and what to prioritise first.
Speak with our team