GSA Covert Law Enforcement Suite

Service scope

Software add-on or extension: Yes, but can also be used as a standalone service
What software services is the service an extension to: The software can be used as a stand alone software but can also be integrated to other Geoff Smith Associates' software.
Cloud deployment model: Community cloud
Service constraints: None
System requirements: Client Web Browser requires any HTML5 compliant browser

User-editing of text in Microsoft files requires MSOffice2010 or above

Client deployment of Plugin Software recommended for user's benefit

User support

Email or online ticketing support: Email or online ticketing
Support response times: GSA responds to support calls within one hour between the hours of 8 am to 6 pm Monday to Friday (excluding UK Bank Holidays) and we provide telephone, email and Remote Access assistance to customers and their systems. Out of hours, GSA provides access to log issues by email on a Support Portal which has functions to enable users to manage their Support Calls and also has a library of online Help Support material which is available to read.
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: Yes, at extra cost
Support levels: GSA's standard support includes a first line Customer Support Team, a range of second and third line Cyclops Specialist Support Engineers, Account Managers and Trainers available from our Leicestershire Head Office. We aim to respond to provide a response to all issues within 60 minutes between 8.am - 6 pm every weekday (excluding UK Bank Holidays).
Support available to third parties: Yes

Onboarding and offboarding

Getting started: Each installation is different but GSA offer services of onsite Training, e-Tutorial training and a range of user documentation. We also provide 'hand holding' days during Service Commencement (Go Live). GSA's Trainers provide follow up support to Super Users and Users once a project has gone live to continue supporting the customer installation.

For the longer term, for interested customers we promote the formation of User Groups amongst customers for which free development hours are allocated to further develop the functionality of the software application.
Service documentation: Yes
Documentation formats: HTML

PDF
End-of-contract data extraction: The Exit Strategy provides the basis to plan the cessation of Service Delivery to the Customer, and Planning/Activities for orderly disengagement of Service Delivery. Such planning is provided in order to ensure safe delivery of Customer Data back to the Customer or completion of Customer instructions. The Exit Strategy plans the transfer and/or deletion of Customer Data to the Customer. GSAs standard output format and transfer method is a Backup of Data in native sql server format by transfer to an encrypted Hard Drive provided and collected by the Customer.
End-of-contract process: During onboarding an Exit Plan/Offboarding Plan is documented and agreed with the customer. This document describes the required steps and expected attainments of the process of Exit Planning or OffBoarding from GCloud Services. As part of the process post Service Commencement a full set of Design details, Artifacts, and Data Dictionaries are provided to the customer.

The Exit Strategy provides the basis to plan the cessation of Service Delivery to the Customer, and Planning/Activities for orderly disengagement of Service Delivery. Such planning is provided in order to ensure safe delivery of Customer Data back to the Customer or completion of Customer instructions. The Exit Strategy plans the transfer and/or deletion of Customer Data to the Customer. GSAs standard output format and transfer method is a Backup of Data in native sql server format by transfer to an encrypted Hard Drive provided and collected by the Customer.

The Strategy covers the situations of an Orderly Exit Plan or an Emergency Exit Plan. An Orderly Exit Plan occurs on the natural expiry of the Service Delivery Contract, and an Emergency Exit Plan occurs if the Customer wishes at any point in time to voluntarily terminate the Service Delivery Contract.

Using the service

Web browser interface: Yes
Supported browsers: Internet Explorer 11

Microsoft Edge

Firefox

Chrome

Safari

Opera
Application to install: Yes
Compatible operating systems: Android

IOS

Linux or Unix

MacOS

Windows

Windows Phone

Other
Designed for use on mobile devices: Yes
Differences between the mobile and desktop service: The screens of the solution are designed to accommodate and resize to the device. This may mean the display of the screen changes into a tabular format to ensure display.
Service interface: Yes
User support accessibility: None or don’t know
Description of service interface: GSA provides out of the box Service Interfaces to its solutions to allow ease of integration with third party solutions. Interfaces including the creation of new records and the automated execution of queries for reporting purposes. We utilise an extensible framework allowing us to easily tailor our Service Interfaces to your bespoke requirements. We provide Web Services using JSON and XML to securely exchange data between applications. The interfaces are RESTful and are highly secure requiring client side authentication. In addition GSA utilises AWS S3 storage and secure file transfer protocols to transfer data in and out as required.
Accessibility standards: None or don’t know
Description of accessibility: GSA needs to do further work to re-gain full compliance with the latest WCAG 2.1 AA standard. We have undertaken verification exercises, this forms part of our test strategies and the changes required are now in our roadmap for the coming twelve months.
Accessibility testing: Whilst we have undertaken no formal testing, GSA has a number of customers who use assistive technologies as part of their day to day life in using our solutions and they have reported no issues in its use
API: Yes
What users can and can't do using the API: A RESTful xml web service xml web-service API that allows data to be requested via a web-service and returned to a calling application can be provided to enable the receipt of or provision of data to or from other systems. In some installations this facility can be used to interface with other customer applications but is provided as required.
API documentation: Yes
API documentation formats: PDF
API sandbox or test environment: Yes
Customisation available: Yes
Description of customisation: Our solutions are highly customisable and configurable, our customers not only have the ability to control all constrained fields and dropdowns but they also have the ability to modify workflows and to define new record types and workflows. This capability is usually restricted to a defined set of users based upon our role based access controls.

Scaling

Independence of resources: Working with our IAAS Supplier, we use resource reservations and shares such as internet bandwidth shaping to guarantee that users are not affected by the demands from other users. At the start of a Project capacity planning for the required infrastructure is undertaken to ensure that adequate capacity is provided, that usage is monitored and additional capacity is available for provision upon demand.

Analytics

Service usage metrics: Yes
Metrics types: A dashboard of basic service metrics provided by the IAAS provider is shared with the customer relating to the infrastructure such as CPU, Disk, Memory, Network usage. We offer formalised quarterly account management meetings with service reports highlighting service levels of support service and also user usage, storage usage, Licence consumption, case volumes etc.
Reporting types: 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: Yes
Datacentre security standards: Complies with a recognised standard (for example CSA CCM version 3.0)
Penetration testing frequency: At least once a year
Penetration testing approach: ‘IT Health Check’ performed by a CHECK service provider
Protecting data at rest: Physical access control, complying with CSA CCM v3.0
Data sanitisation process: Yes
Data sanitisation type: Explicit overwriting of storage before reallocation
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: Most Record and Document screens in the Cyclops Application (if not all) have an Export Option enabling users to export selected data and files. The Export function is a Privilege which can be enabled or disabled for users and this is administered by a Super User.
Data export formats: CSV

Other
Other data export formats: Pdf

Excel

Copy to clipboard

XML

JSON
Data import formats: CSV

Other
Other data import formats: XML

Excel

Data-in-transit protection

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

IPsec or TLS VPN gateway

Availability and resilience

Guaranteed availability: The level of availability guaranteed by our IAAS provider is 99.95%.
Approach to resilience: The IAAS Service Provider we utilise in the delivery of our GCloud Application has a service which is deployed across a number of zones. Each zone is designed to eliminate single points of failure including power, network and hardware.
Outage reporting: All outages are reported by our IAAS Service Provider via a Portal Service Status page and the notifications service within the UKCloud Portal. Outages are identified as Planned maintenance, Emergency maintenance, and platform issues. GSA then makes contact with the GCloud Customer to communicate the Outage and discuss the service details.

Identity and authentication

User authentication needed: Yes
User authentication: 2-factor authentication

Public key authentication (including by TLS client certificate)

Identity federation with existing provider (for example Google Apps)

Limited access network (for example PSN)

Dedicated link (for example VPN)

Username or password
Access restrictions in management interfaces and support channels: GSA utilises Athena as a management tool for managing Role Based Access Controls. This interface is separate from the main application and users must be separately authenticated in order to be granted access. GSA use HaloITSM Service Management solution as our Support Management Tool. This tool is accessible via https://support.gsaltd.com and only pre-authorised users within our customer organisations are granted access. Calls may be received via telephone and/or email but these are also logged within Halo ITSM and assigned accordingly.
Access restriction testing frequency: At least every 6 months
Management access authentication: 2-factor authentication

Public key authentication (including by TLS client certificate)

Identity federation with existing provider (for example Google Apps)

Limited access network (for example PSN)

Dedicated link (for example VPN)

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: Yes
Who accredited the ISO/IEC 27001: Citation
ISO/IEC 27001 accreditation date: Current Certificate 24 September 2010. Annual Review
What the ISO/IEC 27001 doesn’t cover: Nothing. All elements of GSA's application design development and supply of solutions are covered.
ISO 28000:2007 certification: No
CSA STAR certification: No
PCI certification: No
Cyber essentials: No
Cyber essentials plus: Yes
Other security certifications: Yes
Any other security certifications: IAAS provider holds ISO27018 Accreditation

IAAS provider holds PSN Accreditation

IAAS provider holds ISO30000 Accreditation

GSA holds ISO27001

GSA holds Cyber Essentials Plus Accreditation

GSA holds police specific Security Accreditation

Security governance

Named board-level person responsible for service security: Yes
Security governance certified: Yes
Security governance standards: ISO/IEC 27001
Information security policies and processes: Geoff Smith Associates are an accreditation led company who hold ISO 9001 Quality Management Systems, ISO 27001 Information Security Management Systems, ISO 14001 Environmental Management Systems, Cyber Essentials Plus. All GSA staff are Security Vetted to NPPV Level3 SC+. GSA's IAAS provider has accreditation including CSA STAR, ISO27001, ISO 27017, ISO27018 and ISO2000. GSA follow Policies and Processes determined from our accreditation. This compliance is audited by internal and external auditing and trained for by our internal training staff who deliver induction, project-specific, Application-specific, team, role and customer-specialist training. They also deliver annual training such as Security and Team Training. Resource Planning and outputs are defined in Company Roadmaps and there is a staffing hierarchy which means most staff work to or one Manager away from a Director. This approach leads to clear decision making and a simple communication pathway within the company.

Operational security

Configuration and change management standard: Supplier-defined controls
Configuration and change management approach: Geoff Smith Associates is an ISO9001 accredited company and we operate to Change Management Policies and Processes which are subject to Internal and External Audit scrutiny as part of our accreditation process. A robust and formal Change Approval Board process is implemented to control and ensure a managed implementation of required changes to a provided system.
GSA's IAAS provider works to Policies and Processes which are implemented, maintained and assessed in accordance with the guidance from ITILv.4 and the current ISO20000 standard.
Vulnerability management type: Conforms to a recognised standard, for example CSA CCM v3.0 or SSAE-16 / ISAE 3402
Vulnerability management approach: GSA receives Threat Intelligence from Secureworks and NCSC and has a range of monitoring services deployed including MyNCSC Early Warning, TaegisXDR. We scan using mend.io. Updates are applied within 14 days or asap for criticals. Our Cyber Security Engineer also scans technical forums and specialist groups to promptly identify and evaluate any emerging patches or updates which require our attention.
Protective monitoring type: Conforms to a recognised standard, for example CSA CCM v3.0 or SSAE-16 / ISAE 3402
Protective monitoring approach: GSA's IAAS provider follows best practice from the National Cyber Security Centre, protecting both Assured and Elevated platforms with enhanced protective monitoring services (SIEM), at the hypervisor level and below. Theapproach to protective monitoring continues to align with the Protective Monitoring Controls (PMC 1-12) outlined in CESG document GPG13 (Protective Monitoring for HMG ICT Systems). It includes checks on time sources, cross-boundary traffic, suspicious activities at a boundary, network connections and the status of backups, amongst many others. All alerts are immediately notified to the IAAS NOC for prompt investigation.
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: GSA's IAAS provider has a documented incident management policy and process, which are implemented, maintained and assessed in accordance with the guidance from ITILv.4 and current ISO20000 and ISO27001 standards. This activity is responsible for the progression of alerts generated by automated monitoring systems, issues identified by IAAS personnel, and incidents identified and reported to the IAAS by its customers/partners. All incidents are reported into a central ticketing system, which ensures that each is promptly assigned to an appropriate resource, and its progress tracked (and escalated, as required) to resolution. GSA operates to a robust and tested Incident Management process.

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: Yes
Connected networks: Public Services Network (PSN)

NHS Network (N3)

Joint Academic Network (JANET)

Scottish Wide Area Network (SWAN)

Social Value

Fighting climate change
Wellbeing

Fighting climate change

GSA aligns with its Cloud provider in targeting 2040 for net-Zero Carbon emissions. That overall goal, our steps to measure our footprint and action plan to address will not stop us doing so earlier if possible. Amongst measures taken we use a REGO scheme electricity supplier, movement sensor switching, recycling strategy, tree planting scheme, increasingly renewable energy fleet. Moving to electronic manuals has reduced paper consumption by 85%. Operating by Cloud and using video conferencing has led to substantial reductions in business travel. Our Work Life policies has led to measured dramatic reductions in staff time lost to commuting and measured reduction in commuter miles on our roads. We recycle re-purposed computing equipment into charitable ventures.

Wellbeing

We believe wellbeing can be derived from many factors. For example fighting climate change as a team, welcoming ideas from all, generates more optimism for our future and our ability to influence it for the next generation! GSA offers staff funded healthcare options and has a range of work life balance schemes. We have invested in training Mental Health First Aiders. We have a diverse workforce above County ethnicity average and both gender and ethnicity diversity representative in our leadership team. We invite guest speakers to talk about health issues eg prostate cancer in company time. We have a track record for supporting charitable causes and are proud of our staff who volunteer in and out of worktime for the causes supported. GSA provides a safe workplace with clear policies, training and regular guidance to support all staff in delivering their best. We consult staff as to their perception on key issues affecting them in the workplace. We also support our local community’s well being by purchasing and maintaining a community defibrillator.

Pricing

Price: £70 a licence a month
Discount for educational organisations: No
Free trial available: No

Features

Benefits

Service documents

Framework

Service ID

Contact

Service scope

User support

Onboarding and offboarding

Using the service

Scaling

Analytics

Resellers

Staff security

Asset protection

Data importing and exporting

Data-in-transit protection

Availability and resilience

Identity and authentication

Audit information for users

Standards and certifications

Security governance

Operational security

Secure development

Public sector networks

Pricing

Service documents

Cookies on Digital Marketplace

GSA Covert Law Enforcement Suite

Features

Benefits

Pricing

Service documents

Framework

Service ID

Contact

Service scope

User support

Onboarding and offboarding

Using the service

Scaling

Analytics

Resellers

Staff security

Asset protection

Data importing and exporting

Data-in-transit protection

Availability and resilience

Identity and authentication

Audit information for users

Standards and certifications

Security governance

Operational security

Secure development

Public sector networks

Social Value

Pricing

Service documents