McLaren Construction chooses Cyber Security Associates to provide superior, connected cyber services

Published by

Peter Davison

Gloucester-based cyber consultancy and managed services company Cyber Security Associates has been appointed by global construction organisation McLaren Construction to provide cyber security technology services as the sector remains at heightened risk of cyber attacks.

McLaren Construction and its group companies operate in construction, property, development and investment in the UK and UAE across public and private sectors.

Featured UK projects include Leicester City Football Club Training Ground, McArthurGlen Designer Outlet and Wembley Park, and in the UAE, the UK Pavilion for the Dubai Expo and a Gulf Data Hub in Dubai.

Cybercrime is an ever-growing threat to the construction industry. A recent report found that construction is the fifth most at risk industry for a cyber attack with a risk score of 39, higher than financial services, energy and government.

It is also costly: In October 2022 the UK government fined a UK construction firm £4.4 million following a data breach.

Daniel Blackman, IT Director at McLaren Construction said: “We chose CSA as our cyber security management consultancy partner because they complement our values and are passionate, knowledgeable and they know construction. David and James have unrivalled credentials with a highly experienced military foundation that will help us to continue to build upon and improve our cyber posture.”

CSA’s remit with McLaren is to provide managed on premise services from its UK security operations centre (SOC).

The team also manage and monitor Microsoft Sentinel, a single, cloud native enterprise solution for attack detection, threat visibility, proactive hunting, and threat response.

David Woodfine, Co-Founder and Managing Director at CSA said: “We’re delighted to be appointed by McLaren Construction, as a global leader in its field.

“Our connected cyber management service covers all areas of detection and response and our experience of working with the construction industry means we are fully adept to provide robust, military grade cyber protection.

"Construction continues to be a target sector for cyber criminals who are constantly identifying new ways and threats to attack firms of all sizes.

“Our dedicated and experienced SOC team all have enhanced government security clearance and work around the clock to monitor for activity, identify and isolate threats and provide instant, live support."

Peter Davison

Peter Davison is deputy editor of The Business Magazine. He has spent his life in journalism – doing work experience in newsrooms in and around Bristol while still at school, and landing his first job on a local newspaper aged 19. By 28 he was the youngest newspaper editor in the country. An early advocate of online news, he spent the first years of the 2000s telling his bosses that the internet posed both the biggest opportunity and greatest threat to the newspaper industry and the art of journalism. He was right on both counts. Since 2006 he has enjoyed a career as a freelance journalist. He lives in rural Wiltshire with one wife, two children, and three cats.