CSO Group signs 4-year, $7m deal with NSW Government department

CSO Group has successfully secured a four-year, $7 million deal with the NSW Department of Communities and Justice (DCJ).

The deal includes an integrated solution to deliver a fully managed security monitoring service, (Security Operations Centre (SOC) and Managed Security Information and Event Management (SIEM)) that offers real-time visibility, intelligence and remediation.

The platform is delivered through a strategically sovereign architecture via the 'Protected Cloud' and government certified environment powered by Macquarie Government, a division of Macquarie Telecom Group.

This SOC and SIEM contract is part of the Department's Cyber Refresh Program and in addition to the $16 million DCJ contract awarded to CSO Group in late 2020.

The signing of this latest deal has ignited a new partnership for CSO Group, with Australian-owned Macquarie Telecom Group.

According to a statement, the two Australian owned companies have a shared vision to help organisations demystify cybersecurity and provide critical detection and response capabilities, through an enterprise grade Australian sovereign solution.

CSO Group's Integrated Security Monitoring Service (ISMS) is designed to be accessible, customisable, flexible, scalable and includes contextual use cases to ensure the delivery of a purpose-built solution to their customers.

Taking the SOC-as-a-Service and SIEM-as-a-Service from Macquarie Government and wrapping their own Managed Cyber Assurance Service (M-CAS) delivers architecture that provides advanced insights and increased security resilience and protection, the company states.

In addition, leveraging strategic partnerships with CrowdStrike and FireEye's Mandiant provides intelligence and incident response to further enhances the outcomes of the service.

NSW DCJ CISO Matthew Fedele-Sirotich says, "Working with enterprise grade Australian cybersecurity companies that house the data in a protected Australian data center is a highly valuable requirement.

"Furthermore, the services offered enables our internal teams to conduct the in-depth threat hunts to continuously validate the secure nature of our environment.

"All the while knowing our service partner is acting as our overwatch, ensuring we identify and respond to malicious behaviours and events.

CSO CEO Michael Simkovic says, "We are very proud of the work that our team has been providing our customers in addition to the partnership and trust we have developed with the NSW Department of Communities and Justice.

"As a dedicated cybersecurity system integrator, delivering integrated security outcomes to our customers is our primary goal - enhanced through orchestrating the right components of our strategic partners to meet the contextual need.

Macquarie Government managing director Aidan Tudehope says, "The NSW Government is a leader in cybersecurity, driving a new strategy that sets standards and regulatory requirements within the state, and demonstrates best practice in its own cyber maturity.

"The combination of CSO Group's consultative-led model and Macquarie's heritage and experience across all levels of government - particularly over 42% of Federal Government agencies - will help to realise this strategy while ensuring a sovereign data-secure environment.

"We look forward to working with the Department of Communities and Justice and CSO Group.