CYBER SECURITY DEFENCE CONSULTANTS LIMITED

Managed Security Service - Secure by Design (SbD)

Managed security consultancy delivering mandatory HMG Secure by Design compliance for UK government organisations. We embed security throughout solution design using NCSC CAF, NIST CSF, and GovAssure frameworks. Specialists in AWS and Azure security architecture, continuous risk assessment, and security control implementation for public, community, hybrid, and private cloud environments.

Features

• Security delivered in parallel with solution design lifecycle
• Risk assessments aligned to NCSC CAF and NIST frameworks
• Threat modelling and security impact evaluation of changes
• Security control implementation mapped to CAF outcomes
• Gap analysis and compliance against HMG SbD principles
• AWS and Azure secure architecture design expertise
• Continuous risk assessment and security posture management
• Security business case development and documentation support
• Vendor-agnostic independent advice across cloud platforms
• Security testing and validation at design checkpoints

Benefits

• Achieves mandatory HMG Secure by Design compliance
• Embeds security from inception reducing costly remediation
• Meets GovAssure and CAF requirements for government systems
• Reduces risk through proactive threat identification
• Delivers scalable and reusable security mitigations
• Provides independent quality-assured security deliverables
• Supports 2026 SbD commitment deadline for Group 2
• Aligns with Government Cyber Security Strategy outcomes
• Enables cost-effective security proportionate to risk
• Builds internal capability through knowledge transfer

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 andy.huffer@cybersecuritydefence.co.uk. Tell them what format you need. It will help if you say what assistive technology you use.

Framework

G-Cloud 15

Service ID

860071991981143

Contact

Andy Huffer
01223 421577
andy.huffer@cybersecuritydefence.co.uk

About your service

• Service categories:

  Cloud Support Services

  Security Services

  • Security strategy
  • Security risk management
  • Security design

Service scope

• Service constraints: Engagements require a minimum of 10 working days' advance scheduling to secure a qualified consultant's availability. Customer must provide access to solution documentation, architecture designs, and relevant stakeholders. SbD assurance activities require engagement at appropriate project lifecycle stages; late engagement may limit options. Customer is responsible for implementing security recommendations and obtaining risk acceptance for residual risks. Travel and subsistence are included within M25; outside M25, charged at departmental rates. All consultants are UK-based SC-cleared professionals. Remote delivery standard; on-site attendance for workshops and design reviews available when required. Multi-phase projects may require phased delivery aligned to project milestones.

User support

• Email or online ticketing support: Yes
• Support response times: Initial response within 4 business hours during standard working hours (09:00-17:00 Monday to Friday, excluding UK public holidays). Non-urgent queries typically receive a full response within 1 working day. Urgent security matters were escalated to the senior consultant immediately. During active SbD engagements, a dedicated consultant contact is provided with same-day responses to scope queries, design checkpoint reviews, and emerging issues. Weekend support available by prior arrangement for time-critical project milestones only. Post-engagement support for deliverable clarification and guidance is included for 30 days following acceptance. Extended support arrangements and retainer options available for ongoing SbD programme assurance.
• User can manage status and priority of support tickets: No
• Phone support: Yes
• Phone support availability: 9 to 5 (UK time), Monday to Friday
• Web chat support: No
• Support levels: Standard Support (included in service price):; Pre-engagement scoping and planning with a senior consultant. Dedicated consultant contact throughout active engagement for scope queries, design reviews, and emerging issues. Post-engagement support for 30 days, including deliverable clarification, remediation guidance, and security documentation updates.; ; Enhanced Support (at additional cost):; Extended post-engagement support beyond 30 days is charged at SFIA day rates (£500-£1,150 depending on consultant level). Includes ongoing SbD assurance at project checkpoints, updated risk assessments, and continuous security posture reviews. Retainer arrangements available for programme-level SbD support.; ; Named Engagement Lead:; Every engagement is assigned a named senior consultant who serves as your primary point of contact throughout the project lifecycle. This individual provides continuity from initial scoping through to final deliverable acceptance and post-engagement support.; ; Pricing:; Support is included within the overall engagement price based on SFIA day rates. Standard support carries no additional charge. Enhanced support, checkpoint reviews, and ongoing assurance charged at agreed day rates. Travel and subsistence included within M25; outside M25 charged at departmental rates.; ; We do not provide a dedicated technical account manager or cloud support engineer as a separate role; however, your named engagement lead fulfils this coordination function throughout delivery.

Resellers

• Supplier type: Not a reseller

Staff security

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

Pricing

• Discount for educational organisations: No

Architecture roles

Security architect

Role level	UK Rate	Offshore Rate
Security architect	£850.00
Lead security architect	£1,000.00
Principal security architect	£1,150.00

Solution architect

Role level	UK Rate	Offshore Rate
Associate solution architect	£650.00
Solution architect	£850.00
Senior solution architect	£950.00
Lead solution architect	£1,000.00
Principal solution architect	£1,150.00

Technical architect

Role level	UK Rate	Offshore Rate
Associate technical architect	£650.00
Technical architect	£850.00
Senior technical architect	£950.00
Lead technical architect	£1,000.00
Principal technical architect	£1,150.00

Chief digital and data roles

Chief information security officer

Role level	UK Rate	Offshore Rate
Chief information security officer	£1,150.00

Cyber security roles

Cyber security audit and assurance

Role level	UK Rate	Offshore Rate
Lead cyber security audit and assurance	£1,000.00
Principal cyber security audit and assurance	£1,150.00

Cyber security governance and risk management

Role level	UK Rate	Offshore Rate
Associate cyber security governance and risk manager	£650.00
Lead cyber security governance and risk manager	£1,000.00
Principal cyber security governance and risk manager	£1,150.00

Cyber security monitoring

Role level	UK Rate	Offshore Rate
Associate cyber security monitoring	£650.00
Lead cyber security monitoring	£1,000.00
Principal cyber security monitoring	£1,150.00

Cyber security incident response

Role level	UK Rate	Offshore Rate
Associate cyber incident response	£650.00
Lead cyber security incident response	£1,000.00
Principal cyber security incident response	£1,150.00

Cyber security vulnerability management

Role level	UK Rate	Offshore Rate
Associate cyber security vulnerability management	£650.00
Lead cyber security vulnerability management	£1,000.00
Principal cyber security vulnerability management	£1,150.00

Cyber security digital forensics

Role level	UK Rate	Offshore Rate
Associate cyber security digital forensics	£650.00
Lead cyber security digital forensics	£1,000.00
Principal cyber security digital forensics	£1,150.00

Cyber security testing

Role level	UK Rate	Offshore Rate
Associate cyber security testing	£650.00
Lead cyber security penetration testing	£1,000.00
Principal cyber security testing	£1,150.00

Cyber security secure design

Role level	UK Rate	Offshore Rate
Associate cyber security secure systems architecture and design	£650.00
Lead cyber security secure systems architecture and design	£1,000.00
Principal cyber security secure systems architecture and design	£1,150.00

Data roles

Data governance manager

Role level	UK Rate	Offshore Rate
Data governance manager	£850.00
Lead data governance manager	£1,000.00
Head of data governance	£1,150.00

Software development roles

Development operations (DevOps) engineer

Role level	UK Rate	Offshore Rate
Apprentice DevOps engineer	£500.00
Junior DevOps engineer	£500.00
DevOps engineer	£650.00
Senior DevOps engineer	£850.00
Senior DevOps engineer - management	£950.00
Lead DevOps engineer	£1,000.00
Lead DevOps engineer - management	£1,050.00
Principal DevOps engineer	£1,150.00
Principal DevOps engineer - management	£1,150.00

Non-mandatory Standards and certifications

• ISO/IEC 27001 certification: Yes
• Who accredited the ISO/IEC 27001: IQC - Institute of Quality & Control
• ISO/IEC 27001 accreditation date: Sunday 27 March 2022
• What the ISO/IEC 27001 doesn’t cover: The Check Point ISO/IEC 27001 certification fully covers Harmony Email & Collaboration, which is the service being offered. The certification scope explicitly includes development, sales, marketing, support and operations of Harmony Email & Collaboration along with associated Infinity Portal and ThreatCloud AI threat intelligence infrastructure.; ; No aspects of the Harmony Email & Collaboration service delivered under this G-Cloud listing fall outside the ISO 27001 certification scope.; ; CSDC as the reseller does not hold independent ISO 27001 certification. CSDC maintains Cyber Essentials Plus certification and staff security vetting to BS7858:2019. CSDC professional services including implementation, training, and enhanced support are delivered by consultants holding professional certifications including CISSP, CISM, and ISO 27001 Lead Auditor qualifications.; ; Any CSDC-delivered professional services (available at additional cost) are outside the Check Point ISO 27001 certification scope but are delivered following information security best practices aligned to ISO 27001 controls. CSDC is committed to achieving ISO 27001 certification for its consultancy operations.; ; The Check Point certification is valid until March 2028 and covers the complete cloud service infrastructure, development lifecycle, and operational support for all Harmony product family services.
• ISO 28000:2022 certification: No
• ISO 9001 certification: No
• Quality management systems (QMS): Yes
• CSA STAR certification: No
• PCI certification: No
• Cyber essentials: Yes
• Please provide your Cyber Essentials Certificate Number: 338d88d0-089d-4b8a-8186-fd29508892aa
• Cyber essentials plus: No
• Cyber Essentials Alternative: In relation to the services you do not have a current and valid Cyber Essentials Plus certificate which has been awarded by one of the government approved Cyber Essentials accreditation bodies but you are working towards gaining it, and will be in a position to confirm that you have been awarded a current and valid Cyber Essentials Plus certificate by one of the government approved accreditation bodies within 12 months of the date of award.
• Other security certifications: Yes
• Any other security certifications:
  • CISSP
  • CISM
  • CREST
  • OSCP

Social value

• Section B - Commitment for Future: Delivery:

  • Mission: Kick start economic growth. To secure the highest sustained growth in the G7 - with good jobs and productivity growth in every part of the country making everyone, not just a few, better off.

    Policy Outcome 1: Fair work: That offers fair wages and good working conditions. Help people get a job, stay in work, and progress in their careers, with good employment opportunities across the country. Notes: Where there is a large proportion of labour costs in the contract, commercial teams should consider MAC in Outcome 1 as a priority

    • New or retained jobs on the contract workforce in the relevant area that meet the criteria set out in MAC 1b, 1c and 1d
    • New apprenticeships on the contract workforce in the relevant area that meet the criteria set out in MAC 1b
    • Providing opportunities for, and measuring and monitoring of, staff workforce conditions over time, including employee engagement, involvement in decision-making and satisfaction and adapting to any changes in the results, with clear processes for acting on issues identified
    • Plans to engage the contract workforce in deciding the most important workplace issues to address
    • Ensuring new workers are informed of their right to join a trade union
    • Monitoring of employee engagement rates (by protected characteristic) and, where necessary, the development of actions to ensure all voices are heard across the diversity of the workforce
    • Employment contracts that reflect actual hours worked; steps taken to ensure employees understand their contracts and have the ability to review and adjust them if actual hours regularly exceed contracted hours
    • Activities that support an environment where staff are educated about, and feel empowered to, address their physical wellbeing
    • Activities that support an environment where staff are educated about and feel empowered to report and address bullying and harassment
    • Offer a pay and leave entitlement to all eligible staff who become kinship carers, ideally equivalent to statutory adoption pay and leave
    • Payment of more than the National Minimum Wage or National Living Wage (as appropriate) to the contract workforce
    • Monitoring and reporting of gender and ethnicity pay gaps and plans to address them where necessary
    • Entitlement to sick pay for the contract workforce, with provision in place for any staff who do not meet the earnings threshold for statutory sick pay, payment of sick pay from day one of absence and payment of staff on the contract workforce who are off sick a replacement income of 100% of their usual earnings for as long as possible
    • Plans for an appropriate income replacement policy for staff who are required to spend time away from work to care for a sick dependent or close relative
    • Measures to support in-work progression to help people in the contract workforce, to move into higher paid work by developing new skills relevant to the contract
    • Support for the contract workforce by providing career advice, and providing opportunities for staff working on the contract with in-work progression career development into known skills shortages or high growth areas
    • Support for educational attainment relevant to the contract, including training schemes that address skills gaps and result in recognised qualifications
    • Volunteering opportunities for staff
    • Understanding of the modern slavery risks and issues affecting the market, industry, sector or country (of origin or of source) relevant to the contract, and the workforce in the supplier’s own organisation and those of its key subcontractors
    • Outline policies and practices to be applied to or put in place for the contract to mitigate and manage modern slavery risks, including: Pre-employment checks, recruitment practices. Workplace conditions, safeguarding plans and processes in place and regular monitoring with relevant groups considered, which may include sampling

  • Mission: Kick start economic growth. To secure the highest sustained growth in the G7 - with good jobs and productivity growth in every part of the country making everyone, not just a few, better off.

    Policy Outcome 2: Skills for growth: Supporting growth sectors and addressing skills gaps.

    • Understanding of employment and relevant skills issues, and of the education and training issues relating to the contract. Illustrative examples: demographics, skills shortages, new opportunities in high growth sectors, geographic/local community and skills/employment challenges
    • Support for educational attainment relevant to the contract, including training schemes that address skills gaps and result in recognised qualifications
    • Activities to support relevant sector related skills growth and sustainability in the contract workforce. Illustrative examples: careers talks, curriculum support, literacy support, safety talks and volunteering

  • Mission: Kick start economic growth. To secure the highest sustained growth in the G7 - with good jobs and productivity growth in every part of the country making everyone, not just a few, better off.

    Policy Outcome 3: Resilient, innovative and flexible supply chains: Support economic growth through enabling resilient businesses, opportunities for small businesses and voluntary, community and social enterprises

    • Understanding of the types of businesses in the market and the level of participation by new businesses, entrepreneurs, start-ups, SMEs, VCSEs and mutuals
    • Activities to identify opportunities to open up sub-contracts under the prime contract to a diverse range of businesses, including new businesses, entrepreneurs, start-ups, SMEs, VCSEs and mutuals
    • Advertising of supply chain opportunities openly and to ensure they are accessible to a diverse range of businesses, including advertising all subcontracting opportunities on Contracts Finder
    • Ensuring accessibility to contracting and subcontracting opportunities for disabled business owners and employees
    • Structuring of the supply chain selection process to ensure fairness (e.g. anti-corruption) and encourages participation by a diverse range of businesses, including with regard to new businesses, entrepreneurs, start-ups, SMEs, VCSEs and mutual
    • Understanding of local demographics, needs and opportunities for the co-design of the goods, services and works to be delivered under the contract
    • Methods for engaging with different parts of the community (including the education system and charities representing the community) and how communities come together to inform decisions, strategy and projects to leave a positive legacy for future generations
    • Support for community-led initiatives relevant to the contract. Illustrative examples: improving transport links; reducing loneliness; helping with English language proficiency; and facilitating social mixing among people with different backgrounds

  • Mission: Make Britain a clean energy superpower: To cut bills, create jobs and deliver security with cheaper, zero-carbon electricity by 2030, accelerating to net zero

    Policy Outcome 4: Sustainable procurement practices: Reducing carbon footprints, minimising waste, and promoting the use of clean energy and green technologies.

    • Understanding of opportunities for additional environmental benefits delivery in the performance of the contract, including working towards net zero carbon emissions and use of clean energy and green technologies
    • Collaborative ways of working with the supply chain to deliver additional environmental benefits in the performance of the contract, including working towards net zero carbon emissions and use of clean energy and green technologies
    • Delivery of additional environmental benefits through the performance of the contract, including working towards net zero carbon emissions and use of clean energy and green technologies
    • Understanding of how to influence staff, suppliers, customers, communities and/or any other appropriate stakeholders through the delivery of the contract to support climate and nature protection and improvement

  • Mission: Break down barriers to opportunity: By reforming our childcare and education systems, to make sure there is no class ceiling on the ambitions of young people in Britain

    Policy Outcome 6: Employment and training: For those who face barriers to employment

    • Understanding of employment and skills issues, and of the skills and employment shortages of high growth sectors relating to the contract
    • Creation of employment opportunities particularly for those who face barriers to employment, such as prison leavers, care leavers and/or who are located in deprived areas, and for people in industries with known skills shortages or in high growth sectors
    • Delivery of training schemes and programmes to address any identified skills gaps and under-representation in the workforce for the contract (e.g. prison leavers, care leavers, kinship carers, disabled people)
    • Understanding of the issues affecting the representation of disabled people in the workforce in the market, industry or sector relevant to the contract, and in the supplier’s own organisation and those of its key sub-contractors
    • Inclusive and accessible recruitment practices, and retention-focused activities, including those provided in the Guide for line managers on recruiting, managing and developing people with a disability or health condition
    • Other measures to provide equality of opportunity for disabled people and those with health conditions into employment, including becoming a Disability Confident employer and inclusion of supported businesses in the contract supply chain
    • Understanding of the issues affecting inequality in employment, skills and pay in the market, industry or sector relevant to the contract, and in the supplier’s own organisation and those of its key sub-contractors. Measures to tackle inequality in employment, skills and pay in the contract workforce
    • Inclusive and accessible development practices, including guidance for line managers on recruiting, managing and developing people with a disability or health condition

  • Mission: Break down barriers to opportunity: By reforming our childcare and education systems, to make sure there is no class ceiling on the ambitions of young people in Britain

    Policy Outcome 7: Creating a pipeline of opportunities: For the contract workforce, reducing barriers to entry for under-represented groups.

    • Understanding of the issues affecting the development of new skills by target cohort
    • Understanding of the underlying factors affecting improvements to reduce barriers to entry and training schemes for the target cohort(s) related to the contract workforce
    • Other measures to offer development opportunities for the target cohort(s) in the contract workforce
    • Understanding of issues relating to entering the contract workforce
    • Creation of outreach activities to create a pipeline of employees for the future contract delivery
    • Content of the outreach activity is designed to suit the target cohort

  • Mission: Build an NHS fit for the future: That is there when people need it; with fewer lives lost to the biggest killers; in a fairer Britain, where everyone lives well for longer.

    Policy Outcome 8: Increasing productivity through physical and mental wellbeing: In the supply chain and communities in the relevant area.

    • Understanding of issues relating to health and wellbeing, including physical and mental health, in the contract workforce
    • Understanding barriers to access to health and social care services or employment opportunities e.g. digital inclusion
    • Inclusive and accessible recruitment practices, development practices and retention policies that support-focused activities including those provided in the Guide for line managers on recruiting, managing and developing which support people with a disability or health condition
    • Actions to invest in the physical and mental health and wellbeing of the contract workforce

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 andy.huffer@cybersecuritydefence.co.uk. Tell them what format you need. It will help if you say what assistive technology you use.