Synectics Solutions Ltd

SIRA

SIRA is a fully hosted fraud prevention solution offering the ability to leverage multi-sector adverse data to help reduce loss ratios and enhance the positive customer journey. SIRA features sophisticated workflow management, machine learning algorithms and a highly configurable rules based decision engine.

Features

  • Full application and Transaction Lifecycle Protection
  • Sophisticated Workflow, Referral Prioritisation and Case Management functionality
  • Single point of referral offering a consolidated view of risk
  • Compatible with multiple industry data sources and syndicate sharing
  • Highly configurable rules based strategy and decision engine
  • Ability to utilise predictive analytics to enhance the prevention strategy
  • Machine learning algorithims embeded to help reduce false positives
  • Data mining functionality for management information
  • Compatible with Orion, & Synectics Fraud Network Visualisation System

Benefits

  • Prevent and detect fraud, error, debt and financial crime
  • Reduce false positives and operational overheads
  • Streamline your business processes and reduce operating costs
  • Benchmark organisation's risk profile against multiple sectors
  • Enhanced efficiencies and improved user experience
  • Reduce time to identify and approve good customers
  • Reduced losses and mitigate the risk of reputational damage
  • Fully customisable to support all of your organisation needs
  • Consolidation of cross-sector data sources to reduce operating costs

Pricing

£10,000 to £750,000 a licence a year

  • Free trial available

Service documents

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 publicsectorservices@synectics-solutions.com. Tell them what format you need. It will help if you say what assistive technology you use.

Framework

G-Cloud 13

Service ID

7 9 5 0 9 8 3 7 9 8 7 8 4 1 1

Contact

Synectics Solutions Ltd Louise Williams
Telephone: 01782 664000
Email: publicsectorservices@synectics-solutions.com

Service scope

Software add-on or extension
No
Cloud deployment model
Private cloud
Service constraints
No
System requirements
  • Have access to PC
  • Web access IE9 and above e.g.Chrome or Firefox
  • Data feed from the user to conform to Schema provided.

User support

Email or online ticketing support
No
Phone support
Yes
Phone support availability
24 hours, 7 days a week
Web chat support
No
Onsite support
Yes, at extra cost
Support levels
We provide support for 12 hours a day (24 hours can be accommodated at an extra cost). The SIRA application will be available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week including Bank Holidays. We have two business support options available: Telephone & Email. We have a Business Operations team which consist of two parts:

- Application Support Team (Incident Management) who will provide effective management of the day-to-day servicing of the account, ensuring that both operational monitoring, issue tracking and resolution are accurate and responsive. This team is supported by a 2nd line support channel and also work to develop and refine the solution on an ongoing basis.
- Problem Management Team who investigate issues and problems and work to reduce the risk of incidents occurring again.

Application Support/Service Desk hours are 07:00-19:00 GMT Monday - Friday excluding public holidays in England & Wales. Severity 1 and 2 alerts may be reported by the client between the hours of Monday - Friday 06:00 - 07:00 and 19:00 - 22:00. On Saturdays, Sundays and public holidays between the hours of 06:00 - 18:00.
Support available to third parties
Yes

Onboarding and offboarding

Getting started
New users or existing customers have access to a dedicated help desk facility that can support with training and guidance. We produce a full suite of user guides, as well as hosted or on-site training, and a dedicated service manager.
Service documentation
Yes
Documentation formats
  • HTML
  • PDF
End-of-contract data extraction
We will work with the client to ensure data is extracted in accordance with the termination policies within the contract
End-of-contract process
We would discuss with the client the process of disabling the service and all the data deletion processes required. Once the contract has been terminated the service is completely decommissioned.

Using the service

Web browser interface
Yes
Supported browsers
  • Internet Explorer 11
  • Microsoft Edge
  • Firefox
  • Chrome
  • Safari
Application to install
No
Designed for use on mobile devices
No
Service interface
No
User support accessibility
None or don’t know
API
Yes
What users can and can't do using the API
API is for the supply of data only and is configured with the client based on their needs.
API documentation
Yes
API documentation formats
PDF
API sandbox or test environment
Yes
Customisation available
Yes
Description of customisation
Users can pick and choose from various modules within the system to customise a solution which optimises the products performance to meet their individual business needs.

Scaling

Independence of resources
We consistently perform testing on capacity levels and service . We have load balancing in place and multiple internet connections and multiple points of redundancy and resilience.

Analytics

Service usage metrics
Yes
Metrics types
Standard and bespoke reports relating to the contracted service levels are available. We also provide reports in relation to usage and auditing of users.
Reporting types
  • Real-time dashboards
  • Regular reports
  • Reports on request

Resellers

Supplier type
Not a reseller

Staff security

Staff security clearance
Conforms to BS7858:2019
Government security clearance
Up to Security Clearance (SC)

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
No
Datacentre security standards
Supplier-defined controls
Penetration testing frequency
At least once a year
Penetration testing approach
‘IT Health Check’ performed by a Tigerscheme qualified provider or a CREST-approved service provider
Protecting data at rest
  • Physical access control, complying with another standard
  • Encryption of all physical media
  • Other
Other data at rest protection approach
Data at rest is protected by hardened server builds, AD and SQL server security and Network segregation.
Data sanitisation process
Yes
Data sanitisation type
  • Explicit overwriting of storage before reallocation
  • Deleted data can’t be directly accessed
Equipment disposal approach
Complying with a recognised standard, for example CSA CCM v.30, CAS (Sanitisation) or ISO/IEC 27001

Data importing and exporting

Data export approach
SQL Web Tool Module
Bespoke MI Requests/ exports
Data export formats
  • CSV
  • Other
Other data export formats
  • Excel
  • .Txt
Data import formats
  • CSV
  • Other
Other data import formats
.TXT

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
We maintain 98% service level with all development, upgrades and maintenance performed in scheduled windows, which are executed outside of normal operating hours.
Approach to resilience
Data centres are highly resilient with back up generators, UPS and FM200 fire suppressant systems. Our Systems are built to be highly fault tolerant using dual power and network connections. Data centres are served by multiple ISP connections. We have a dedicated Business Continuity Management department. We load balance our system across multiple virtual machines which themselves can be migrated to new physical hardware when required.
Outage reporting
We report service outages once they have exceeded the clients contractual targets directly to the client with estimated fix times and solutions.

Identity and authentication

User authentication needed
Yes
User authentication
Username or password
Access restrictions in management interfaces and support channels
SIRA users may only access the system from white listed IP addresses. All clients log into their own instance of SIRA, identified by unique domain. All users are provided with unique User IDs verified by the application. Clients are provided with administrator accounts to manage their own staff and access levels.
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
At least 12 months
Access to supplier activity audit information
Users receive audit information on a regular basis
How long supplier audit data is stored for
At least 12 months
How long system logs are stored for
At least 12 months

Standards and certifications

ISO/IEC 27001 certification
Yes
Who accredited the ISO/IEC 27001
BSI Assurance Group Ltd .
ISO/IEC 27001 accreditation date
22-10-2017
What the ISO/IEC 27001 doesn’t cover
The ISO/IEC 27001 scope covers the entire business operation of Synectics Solutions.
ISO 28000:2007 certification
No
CSA STAR certification
No
PCI certification
No
Cyber essentials
Yes
Cyber essentials plus
No
Other security certifications
Yes
Any other security certifications
  • ISO270001
  • SAFO ( Specific Anti Fraud Organisation )

Security governance

Named board-level person responsible for service security
Yes
Security governance certified
Yes
Security governance standards
  • ISO/IEC 27001
  • Other
Other security governance standards
Cyber Essentials, SAFO Registration
Information security policies and processes
Overall responsibility for information security rests with the Chief Information Security Officer who reports to the Legal & Compliance Director. An ISMS review committee (which includes at least one Director) meets twice annually. The Security Strategy group formally meet every two weeks. A dedicated IT Security team are responsible for operational security. Physical security is the responsibility of the Facilities team. We meet and adhere to the following: Cyber Essentials , • Security operating Procedures (SyOPS) • Protective Monitoring Controls selected from GPG13 in accordance with risks resultant from IS1 calculations. Monitoring is currently designed to protect OFFICIAL records (individually (IL3) and aggregated (IL5)). • A ‘Requirements for Secure Delivery of Online Public Services’ (RSDOPS) assessment has been carried out as part of the accreditation to profile the current system design against GPG43 guidance. The system has been continuously accredited since 2009 and is operated as a ‘private cloud’. Synectics also design and host the multiple fraud prevention solutions for the financial services sector. The Synectics ISMS is certified to ISO27001:2013. All fourteen cloud security principles are met in the delivery of all products securely. We have fully documented security policies available.

Operational security

Configuration and change management standard
Supplier-defined controls
Configuration and change management approach
Configuration and change management processes are operated in line with ITIL V3.
Vulnerability management type
Supplier-defined controls
Vulnerability management approach
Penetration and Vulnerability tests will be completed on an annual basis. If further investigation is required we will evoke the BCP to manage and operate a project team to rectify issues and risks to the business. The IT Security team use a number feeds to enable them to proactively manage new threats and vulnerabilities and reduce the windows of vulnerability. These include: NCSC, McAfee, CheckPoint, Microsoft, AlienVault Open Threat Exchange, thehackernews, theregister and reddit. Synectics also participate in the NCSC CiSP. Patch management is in accordance with defined patching policy dependant on risk and severity of situation.
Protective monitoring type
Supplier-defined controls
Protective monitoring approach
Synectics have implemented a protective monitoring policy with associated technology and processes to oversee the use of ICT systems (including NFI) and to provide assurance and user accountability. This, along with the Information Security Incident Management policy forms part of the current NFI system accreditation and are documented within the current RMADS.
The technology employed includes IPS/IDS (intrusion prevention/detection) software and a SIEM (Security Incident and Event Management) solution. Penetration and Vulnerability tests will be completed on an annual basis. Incidents are accessed and responded to inline with our Information Security Incident Management policy.
Incident management type
Supplier-defined controls
Incident management approach
The Security Incident Management Policy and processes are designed in line with NCSC guidance, industry best practice, and ISO27035. Any incident that is uncovered will be rectified using each departments BCP plan. Any client is welcome to review the plans during an onsite visit or secure video conference. Users can report incidents through the dedicated helpdesk facilities and we are able to provide reporting.

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

Covid-19 recovery

Covid-19 recovery

Synectics Solutions has been working within the fraud prevention and detection arena for over 26 years. We work in several ways to support, Central Government, Local Government, Private Sector Organisation as well as the British Public to protect them from financial loss:
• We stive to ensure government departments spend efficiently and identify innovative ways to deliver services for less, never more so than now when COVID-19 has added financial pressure to all public bodies.
• We performed matching to help the Central Government identify and recover funds illegally obtained by fraudsters as part of the Covid 19 support.
• We help local authorities to ensure citizens are provided with efficient access to benefit entitlements or services tackling economic equality.
• We support in the identification of fraudsters who target small business owners, reducing their loss to fraud to ensure the business is more likely to profit and survive, providing long term employment to the community
• We support the verification of individuals for private sector clients to ensure products and services are being obtained by genuine customers, reducing losses, and protecting genuine customers.
• Our sector and scope of work has grown over the past 2 years, and we have created several new posts within or organisation, specifically supporting additional employment in a deprived area, and growing skills within the workforce winning several awards for innovation and creativity.
• Our products and services help to tackle economic equality by ensuring genuine customers can protect their finances and income and are able to request support at a time of need.
• Businesses can operate efficiently, enabling them to increase productivity sustaining long term employment of staff.
Tackling economic inequality

Tackling economic inequality

Synectics Solutions has been working within the fraud prevention and detection arena for over 26 years. We work in several ways to support, Central Government, Local Government, Private Sector Organisation as well as the British Public to protect them from financial loss:
• We stive to ensure government departments spend efficiently and identify innovative ways to deliver services for less, never more so than now when COVID-19 has added financial pressure to all public bodies.
• We performed matching to help the Central Government identify and recover funds illegally obtained by fraudsters as part of the Covid 19 support.
• We help local authorities to ensure citizens are provided with efficient access to benefit entitlements or services tackling economic equality.
• We support in the identification of fraudsters who target small business owners, reducing their loss to fraud to ensure the business is more likely to profit and survive, providing long term employment to the community
• We support the verification of individuals for private sector clients to ensure products and services are being obtained by genuine customers, reducing losses, and protecting genuine customers.
• Our sector and scope of work has grown over the past 2 years, and we have created several new posts within or organisation, specifically supporting additional employment in a deprived area, and growing skills within the workforce winning several awards for innovation and creativity.
• Our products and services help to tackle economic equality by ensuring genuine customers can protect their finances and income and are able to request support at a time of need.
• Businesses can operate efficiently, enabling them to increase productivity sustaining long term employment of staff.

Pricing

Price
£10,000 to £750,000 a licence a year
Discount for educational organisations
No
Free trial available
Yes
Description of free trial
We offer to complete proof of concept to ascertain the uplift the introduction of this product makes to existing processes

Service documents

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 publicsectorservices@synectics-solutions.com. Tell them what format you need. It will help if you say what assistive technology you use.