Credit: Pxfuel

The Department of Health and Social Care has awarded a £2m short-term deal it hopes will improve how it handles cyberattacks.

Newly published procurement documents show that the DHSC has signed a six-month contract with specialist firm 2T Security. The deal, worth £1.93m, came into effect on 21 September and lasts until 19 March.

The Buckinghamshire-based company has been asked to assist the DHSC in a programme to deliver the “establishment of [a] CISO office” – referring to a chief information security officer.

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2T will provide “resource to support the CISO in building a secure and resilient organisation that will be able to respond and recover from a cyberattack, keep operating through it and eventually get back on track and be more capable of withstanding future disruption”.

The deal was awarded through the third lot of the G-Cloud framework, which covers cloud support offerings.

The contract covers a range of services, including those “security architecture, design and review for complex systems” and a “security operation centre and protective monitoring design services”. 

Services provided must be accredited by the National Cyber Security Centre, while staff working with the department will be expected to hold the centre’s Certified Cyber Professional qualification.