INTELLIGENT TECHNOLOGY
PwC helps Lloyds Banking Group re-engineer cyberdefence operations
Lloyds Banking Group has worked with PwC and Google Cloud to build a new engineering-led cyberdefence centre designed to reduce alert fatigue and increase automation. The nine-month project demonstrates how implementation partners can combine their expertise with vendor technology and an end-user’ s internal capabilities to deliver complex security transformation.
P wC has worked alongside Lloyds Banking Group and Google Cloud to design and implement a new cyberdefence centre as the bank looks to automate more of its security operations and give engineers greater responsibility across threat detection and response.
Lloyds previously faced around 300 security alerts during a typical 24-hour period, with analysts spending time investigating large numbers of events, including relatively routine activity.
The bank concluded that replacing its existing security platform alone would not address the problem. Instead, it embarked on a ninemonth programme to redesign its cyberdefence operation from the ground up, using Google SecOps as the underlying platform.
PwC provided cyberdefence and engineering expertise to support the Lloyds-led transformation, with specialists from all three organisations brought together as requirements changed during the project.
Matt Rowe, Chief Security Officer at Lloyds Banking Group, described PwC’ s contribution in a case study published by the consulting firm.“ So they brought to the table really good engineering capacity, expertise and the right mindset.”
The project was organised around two-week sprints, with priorities shared between the organisations. Regular sessions enabled engineers to demonstrate progress and teams from Lloyds, PwC and Google Cloud to work together when problems arose.
A central element of the new environment was an‘ everything as code’ approach. Rather than configuring individual security tools manually, system configurations are captured as code and centrally managed, allowing engineers to develop and implement changes more quickly.
PwC Cyber Defence Director Alex Gornoi described the company’ s role as complementing Lloyds’ existing capabilities with additional expertise as required.
“ I really saw our role being a helpful and flexible implementation partner who was there to complement the team with the right skills.”
The new environment has also enabled Lloyds to automate a substantial proportion of its security workload.
“ Around 80 % of our alerts are processed through automation,” said Manija Poulatova, Director of Security Engineering and Operations at Lloyds Banking Group, according to the PwC case study.“ That means our people can focus on higher-value analysis, threat hunting and tuning the models and AI-based detections that sit underneath.”
Lloyds says the number of alerts generated over 24 hours has subsequently fallen from around 300 to as few as 10.
The project also provides an example of the role consulting and implementation partners can play between enterprise customers and technology vendors. Rather than providing technology alone, PwC contributed engineering resources and cyberdefence expertise, while Google Cloud brought its platform and security experience to the programme.
For PwC, the engagement required working as an extension of the customer’ s security organisation rather than operating as a separate delivery team – an approach that allowed the partners to combine specialist expertise while keeping Lloyds’ objectives at the centre of the transformation. •
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