Comprehensive Cyber Security Project Rollout For UK Council

Cyber Security Projects & Consultancy For Local Government

Akita’s cyber security experts provided for assistance for a large council with the rollout of Microsoft Intune, a migration to Microsoft Defender For Business, and wider cyber security projects.

With over 600 devices in use across various departments – each with distinct application needs – the council required a solution that maintained granular control over device management.

Working to a deadline, we were able to assist with these enhancements to the council’s existing security measures.

Approach

Our initial steps involved conducting a thorough security audit, covering all Microsoft cloud systems, to identify any potential vulnerabilities and define the scope of the planned improvements.

The audit was followed by strategic meetings to discuss findings, outline an approach and agree the implementation process.

Various security measures were then implemented during this rollout included:

Policy Consolidation:  Streamlining Conditional Access policies to ensure a robust yet security framework that doesn’t encroach on staff working. This included implementing new policies for monitoring risky activities, enforcing Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA), setting country-based access blocks, and establishing rigorous device compliance checks.

Intune Deployment: Deployment included new compliance and Microsoft account management policies, particularly for users with administrative access. This deployment phase also focused on antivirus and firewall configurations tailored to Defender, establishing a local administrator password solution, and configuring application control policies to prevent data exfiltration.

Defender Rollout: Akita also successfully rolled out Defender for Endpoint across all 600+ devices, ensuring comprehensive malware protection and secure device management.

Enhanced Control Measures: We also implemented custom controls to restrict access to administrative portals exclusively to administrators, completely blocking non-administrative access.

Consultancy: The council were also provided with security consultancy time to be used as required. This has been utilised for application troubleshooting, personal mobile device enrolment, configuration of device specific policies, additional mail flow rules and more.

Additionally, we’ve delivered user awareness testing, with all 600 users enrolled in training with phishing simulation in the works.

Results

Akita accommodated the Intune rolled-out in around 4 weeks, covering both laptops and mobile devices for more than 600 staff.

With Intune in place, the council now benefits from full device control and security.

The council can rest assured knowing that all their devices must meet specific requirements to access any company data.

In addition, all devices are encrypted, protected with Defender for Endpoint and safe from malicious software – as only approved staff can download and install the software.

Ongoing projects with the council with improving cyber vigilance among its users through cyber security user awareness testing, with all staff enrolled in training.

Additionally, the council benefits from access to our expert security consultants for further technical and best-practice security guidance.