Company Profile
Merton Council employs 2,500 people across six directorates, providing services to a vibrant and growing population of more than 220,000. Their aim is to generate civic pride, build a sustainable borough for the future, and become London’s first-ever Borough of Sport.
Richard Warren, the Head of IT Service Delivery at Merton Council, oversees the management and delivery of IT services for the council. With a team of 20 dedicated professionals, Richard ensures the smooth operation of essential IT infrastructure and cyber security measures to support the council’s ambitious plans for community improvement and sustainable growth.
The Challenge
As the threat landscape in cyber security constantly evolves, the team at Merton Council recognised the need to enhance their resilience against cyber threats. With limited resources and personnel, managing security incidents and analysing vast amounts of data for potential threats became increasingly challenging. They identified the need for a Security Information and Event Management (SIEM) solution to centralise security event monitoring and streamline incident response processes.
After thorough evaluations and external recommendations, Richard opted for a Managed SIEM service provided by MTI, a trusted technology partner. The decision to leverage a managed service was driven by the expertise and 24/7 monitoring capabilities offered by MTI’s Security Operations Center (SOC). With MTI managing the SIEM solution, Richard’s team could focus on critical IT operations without the burden of continuously monitoring and analysing security events.
Deliverables:
- Proactive exec reporting – setting priorities for Incident Response
- Dedicated team of experts available 24x7x365, led by a Service Delivery Manager
- Streamlined processes and enhanced threat detection
The Solution
MTI’s SIEM Managed Service is a remote monitoring and security service designed to store, analyse and triage log data from infrastructure, operating system and application logs, whilst flagging potential threats.
Our managed services team deployed and configured the SIEM solution into the existing environment at Merton Council and thereafter assumed all responsibility for day-to-day operation, configuration and management of the service 24/7.
The team at Merton Council now have full visibility of what’s going on in both their on-premise and cloud environments and are informed when a potential cyber attack or malicious activity is detected. In the event of a security incident or data breach that falls within the scope of the Managed SIEM service, the MTI service team will perform automated and / or manual responses to triage the incident and notify the correct Merton Council contacts in line with pre-agreed response action rulesets.
MTI provide Merton Council with a dedicated Service Delivery Manager to work closely with them and proactively provide reports and performance reviews – summarising performance, escalations and risks.
The council remains committed to working closely with MTI and exploring additional projects to enhance its IT infrastructure and security posture. By investing in ongoing training and awareness programs, Merton Council aims to empower employees to recognise and mitigate cyber security risks effectively.
Results & Benefits
The implementation of Managed SIEM provided several immediate benefits to Merton Council’s cyber security posture:
- Enhanced Threat Detection: MTI’s SIEM solution enables proactive threat detection by monitoring security events in real-time, allowing the council to identify and respond to potential threats swiftly.
- Expertise and Support: With access to MTI’s SOC analysts and cyber security experts, Merton Council can leverage specialised knowledge and guidance to address complex security incidents effectively.
- Improved Incident Response: By centralising security event monitoring and incident management, Merton Council can streamline response processes, minimising the impact of security breaches and ensuring business continuity.
- Compliance Readiness: MTI’s Managed SIEM solution assists Merton Council in meeting regulatory compliance requirements by providing comprehensive reporting and audit trails for security incidents.
- 24x7x365 Vigilance: The constant monitoring allows Merton Council to rest easy in the knowledge that threats and attacks will be discovered before they compromise the organisation. Allowing them to make better use of internal resources and freeing up their technical staff to focus on other critical projects.
Without MTI, we would still be struggling to manage an overwhelming amount of data to review and work out what’s a real and significant threat.
Working with MTI gives us the peace of mind that we have an expert team making sense of what is noise and what we need to proactively go and do something about.
The relationship I have with MTI is built on trust. MTI have always delivered exactly what they said they would, proactively, truthfully and in the timescales they promised. We’re starting to work with MTI on more projects for that reason, I know they will deliver.
Richard Warren,
Head of IT Service Delivery, Merton Council
Why MTI?
Merton council highly recommends MTI based on the partnership’s foundation of trust, reliability, and proactive service delivery. MTI’s consistent adherence to promised timelines, quality deliverables, and transparent communication has earned the council’s confidence and paved the way for future collaboration on cyber security initiatives.
Through the adoption of Managed SIEM services provided by MTI, Merton Council has fortified its cyber security defences, ensuring the protection of sensitive data and critical infrastructure against emerging threats. With a strategic focus on collaboration, innovation, and continuous improvement, Merton Council remains poised to achieve its vision of becoming London’s premier Borough of Sport while fostering civic pride and community resilience.
