PEN-LINK TECHNOLOGIES UK LTD.

Internet Intelligence Investigation / Digital Intelligence Platform

Internet Intelligence Investigation platform offering digital intelligence capabilities tailored for law enforcement, national security, and defence organisations.

The platform supports end-to-end digital investigations and threat monitoring by incorporating web discovery, visual link analysis, dynamic reporting, real-time alerting, explainable artificial intelligence, and digital evidence capabilities.

Features

• Tailored for law enforcement, national security, and defence organisations
• End-to-end digital investigations
• Web discovery
• Visual link analysis
• Dynamic reporting
• Real-time alerting
• Explainable artificial intelligence
• Digital evidence
• CoAnalyst generative artificial intelligence
• Mobile application

Benefits

• Tailored for law enforcement, national security, and defence organisations
• All digital intelligence capabilities in one platform
• Search, analyse and monitor surface, deep, and dark web
• Simplify complex relationships with visual analysis
• Report and export data in formats to suit specific needs
• Real-time alerting
• Incorporates powerful, explainable artificial intelligence
• Incorporates digital evidence such as CDRs in a single platform
• Generative artificial intelligence to speed up access to intelligence
• Mobile application empowers field operations

£9,500 to £38,000 a user

• Education pricing available
• Free trial available

Service documents

• Pricing document

  PDF

• Service definition document

  PDF

• Terms and conditions

  PDF

Request an accessible format

If you use assistive technology (such as a screen reader) and need versions of these documents in a more accessible format, email the supplier at paul.miller@cobwebs.com. Tell them what format you need. It will help if you say what assistive technology you use.

Framework

G-Cloud 14

Service ID

495179083236881

Contact

Paul Miller
07552 424231
paul.miller@cobwebs.com

Service scope

• Software add-on or extension: No
• Cloud deployment model: Private cloud
• Service constraints: Since the solution is located in the cloud, the only constraint from the user aspect is to have a strong network bandwidth (minimum of 50Mbps recommended). All maintenance is done in the cloud infrastructure and it is not dependent on the customer location and customer’s site.
• System requirements:
  • Solution is installed in the cloud
  • All software components are installed by Cobwebs
  • User require workstations with following minimum specifications:
  • CPU - i5
  • Memory – 16GB RAM
  • Disk space – 256 GB
  • Operating system – Windows 10
  • Internet browser latest version

User support

• Email or online ticketing support: Email or online ticketing
• Support response times: For critical inquiries, up to 4 hours.; ; For major inquiries, up to 6 hours.; ; For minor inquiries, up to next business day.
• User can manage status and priority of support tickets: Yes
• Online ticketing support accessibility: None or don’t know
• Phone support: Yes
• Phone support availability: 9 to 5 (UK time), Monday to Friday
• Web chat support: No
• Onsite support: Onsite support
• Support levels: For critical inquiries, our maximum response time is up to 4 hours.; ; For major inquiries, our maximum response time is up to 6 hours.; ; For minor inquiries, our maximum response time is up to next business day.; ; Users submitting support queries can define the severity of the matter, and there are no additional charges based on the severity rating.
• Support available to third parties: Yes

Onboarding and offboarding

• Getting started: We can provide online training, onsite training or training in our dedicated education centre in central London. Users undergo 2 days of onboard training, followed by 2 days enhanced training (6-8 weeks after onboard training) and 1 day thematic training (6-8 weeks after enhanced training). Our inhouse analysts support our clients throughout the length of contracts with methodological questions and help.
• Service documentation: Yes
• Documentation formats: PDF
• End-of-contract data extraction: There are numerous ways to export data from the platform such as specific reports in formats like MS Word and PDF through to CSV and JSON formats.
• End-of-contract process: If clients do not extend their use of the platform and the contract expires, clients can export their data from the system in various ways such as specific reports in formats like MS Word and PDF through to CSV and JSON formats. Once clients have exported their data, their platform is deleted and forensic expunged.

Using the service

• Web browser interface: Yes
• Supported browsers:
  • Internet Explorer 11
  • Microsoft Edge
  • Firefox
  • Chrome
  • Safari
  • Opera
• Application to install: No
• Designed for use on mobile devices: Yes
• Differences between the mobile and desktop service: Dedicated mobile application to empower field operations, focussing on search and monitoring capabilities.
• Service interface: No
• User support accessibility: None or don’t know
• API: Yes
• What users can and can't do using the API: Platform supports API for third party system integration. The API interface supports the majority of platform functionality. A detailed list of the API capabilities, including a full instructions guide, can be provided to clients under an NDA.
• API documentation: Yes
• API documentation formats: PDF
• API sandbox or test environment: Yes
• Customisation available: Yes
• Description of customisation: Users can create shortcut buttons for regularly used functions. Users can also customise reports to suit specific needs. User roles and profiles can also be customised by system administrators.

Scaling

• Independence of resources: The platform infrastructure has been designed to support the processing of thousands of requests simultaneously without impacting the performance of the system.

Analytics

• Service usage metrics: Yes
• Metrics types: Users can manage their use of the platform from within the platform itself using Project Statistics illustrating metrics such as type and number of search, analysis, and monitors and what web-services data has been obtained from. Use of the platform is fully audited recording what users did and when and this can also be reported and exported.
• Reporting types:
  • Real-time dashboards
  • Regular reports

Resellers

• Supplier type: Not a reseller

Staff security

• Staff security clearance: Conforms to BS7858:2019
• Government security clearance: Up to Developed Vetting (DV)

Asset protection

• Knowledge of data storage and processing locations: Yes
• Data storage and processing locations: United Kingdom
• User control over data storage and processing locations: Yes
• Datacentre security standards: Managed by a third party
• Penetration testing frequency: At least once a year
• Penetration testing approach: Another external penetration testing organisation
• Protecting data at rest:
  • Physical access control, complying with SSAE-16 / ISAE 3402
  • Encryption of all physical media
• Data sanitisation process: Yes
• Data sanitisation type: Explicit overwriting of storage before reallocation
• Equipment disposal approach: A third-party destruction service

Data importing and exporting

• Data export approach: There are numerous ways to export data from the platform such as specific reports in formats like MS Word and PDF through to CSV and JSON formats.
• Data export formats:
  • CSV
  • Other
• Other data export formats: JSON
• Data import formats:
  • CSV
  • Other
• Other data import formats: JSON

Data-in-transit protection

• Data protection between buyer and supplier networks: TLS (version 1.2 or above)
• Data protection within supplier network: TLS (version 1.2 or above)

Availability and resilience

• Guaranteed availability: Hardware and Virtual Machine availability SLA adhere to Azure or AWS hardware availability commitments, ensuring reliable performance and uptime, as validated during the latest SOC2 audit.
• Approach to resilience: Disaster Recovery plan leverages Azure Recovery Vault capabilities, enabling the recovery of Customer Azure Virtual Machines from the latest available VM snapshot within an estimated 5-hour duration. The platform is deployed in a High Availability (HA) configuration, with disaster recovery configuration also supported and customizable based on preferred cloud instance requirements. Hardware and Virtual Machine availability SLA adhere to Azure or AWS hardware availability commitments, ensuring reliable performance and uptime, as validated during the latest SOC2 audit.
• Outage reporting: There are several monitoring tools used for operational systems. ; ; For the backend services our DevOps have a monitor and tester to each source service and they are all monitored 24/7 for; application errors, infrastructure issues, and CPU ,RAM and disk utilizations. ; ; For the customer system itself as part of the installation we deploy an agent that monitor the system CPU RAM and Disk utilization ; ; In case utilization exceed a preset threshold we will get notification .

Identity and authentication

• User authentication needed: Yes
• User authentication:
  • 2-factor authentication
  • Username or password
• Access restrictions in management interfaces and support channels: User identities are verified and managed with formal procedures, including access control, role-based privileges, and regular audits, all validated during the latest SOC2 audit. Security measures include two-factor authentication, regular access reviews, and monitoring of remote connections, ensuring robust protection of sensitive data and prompt response to security incidents.
• Access restriction testing frequency: At least every 6 months
• Management access authentication:
  • 2-factor authentication
  • Username or password

Audit information for users

• Access to user activity audit information: Users have access to real-time audit information
• How long user audit data is stored for: User-defined
• Access to supplier activity audit information: Users have access to real-time audit information
• How long supplier audit data is stored for: User-defined
• How long system logs are stored for: User-defined

Standards and certifications

• ISO/IEC 27001 certification: No
• ISO 28000:2007 certification: No
• CSA STAR certification: Yes
• CSA STAR accreditation date: 08/04/2024
• CSA STAR certification level: Level 1: CSA STAR Self-Assessment
• What the CSA STAR doesn’t cover: Level 1 coverage
• PCI certification: No
• Cyber essentials: No
• Cyber essentials plus: No
• Other security certifications: Yes
• Any other security certifications: SOC 2 Type II

Security governance

• Named board-level person responsible for service security: Yes
• Security governance certified: Yes
• Security governance standards: Other
• Other security governance standards: Hold SOC 2 Type II standard. The annual external and independent audit evaluated our information security management system from product, infrastructure, and organizational aspects, and verified that we have the necessary information security controls in place to ensure the confidentiality, integrity, and availability of sensitive information assets.
• Information security policies and processes: Extensive set of policies and procedures directly related to our SOC2 Type II Standard.

Operational security

• Configuration and change management standard: Conforms to a recognised standard, for example CSA CCM v3.0 or SSAE-16 / ISAE 3402
• Configuration and change management approach: A meticulous change control process is fundamental to our Secure Software Development Life Cycle (S-SDLC), where all codebase modifications undergo rigorous approval, validation, documentation, and testing, ensuring changes maintain system security and integrity, as confirmed during the latest SOC2 audit. Tight management of change control minimizes the risk of unauthorized alterations and vulnerabilities.
• Vulnerability management type: Conforms to a recognised standard, for example CSA CCM v3.0 or SSAE-16 / ISAE 3402
• Vulnerability management approach: A comprehensive inventory of assets and services categorised by criticality and information classification, with protection requirements aligned accordingly. Regular reviews ensure the inventory's accuracy, and authorized personnel are identified for system components within scope for SOC 2 Type II. ; ; Applications adhere to secure coding guidelines and undergo appropriate testing to prevent common vulnerabilities. Vulnerability testing is conducted annually for applications handling covered information. System and information integrity requirements are documented, disseminated, and updated annually.; ; Technical vulnerability management program monitors, assesses, ranks, and remediates vulnerabilities identified in systems, with quarterly internal and external vulnerability assessments. Patches are rigorously tested before installation.
• Protective monitoring type: Conforms to a recognised standard, for example CSA CCM v3.0 or SSAE-16 / ISAE 3402
• Protective monitoring approach: Cloud resource utilization and status are continually monitored through a dedicated agent, providing real-time status information and alerts, as confirmed during the latest SOC2 audit.
• Incident management type: Conforms to a recognised standard, for example, CSA CCM v3.0 or ISO/IEC 27035:2011 or SSAE-16 / ISAE 3402
• Incident management approach: Incident Response process, covered by SOC 2 Type 2, follows these key phases: ; ; Identification: System and security alerts are analyzed, incidents investigated, and severity classified for escalation, involving product, security, and engineering specialists. ; ; Containment: Escalation teams assess incident scope and impact, prioritize containment to safeguard data, and implement response measures, including forensic analysis.; ; Eradication: After containment, efforts focus on eliminating damage and identifying root causes, with vulnerabilities reported to product engineering for resolution. ; ; Recovery: System updates and services restoration undertaken to return operations to full capacity. ; ; Lessons Learned: Each incident is analyzed to apply appropriate mitigations, ensuring future protection against.

Secure development

• Approach to secure software development best practice: Independent review of processes (for example CESG CPA Build Standard, ISO/IEC 27034, ISO/IEC 27001 or CSA CCM v3.0)

Public sector networks

• Connection to public sector networks: No

Social Value

• Social Value:

  Social Value

  Wellbeing

  Wellbeing

  Platform is used by internet intelligence investigation professionals around the world to protect the public and make the world a safer place.

Pricing

• Price: £9,500 to £38,000 a user
• Discount for educational organisations: Yes
• Free trial available: Yes
• Description of free trial: Prospective clients can access platform either as part of a workshop or proof of concept exercises. All functionality is available and time period can be designed to meet requirements.

Service documents

• Pricing document

  PDF

• Service definition document

  PDF

• Terms and conditions

  PDF

Request an accessible format

If you use assistive technology (such as a screen reader) and need versions of these documents in a more accessible format, email the supplier at paul.miller@cobwebs.com. Tell them what format you need. It will help if you say what assistive technology you use.